The Ghost of You
by ToxikCherrys16
Summary: *COMPLETE* Light thinks it travels faster than anything, but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always gotten there first, and is waiting for it - Terry Pratchett. Disclaimer - I DO NOT OWN MARVEL OR CAPTAIN AMERICA. (The Monsters They Made Us series. Part 2/?)
1. Death of a Dream

**Hey guys and gals. Sorry it's been so quiet on here, but things have been a bit** **hectic. I moved for the first time early March this year, and that was only suppose to be for 3 months, which then stretched to 5. We didn't buy the house we were going to, so it became a frantic search for another one. Me and my mama have been living out of boxes and suitcases for all this time as well, but we're finally in the new place.**

 **I know I said that this story would most likely be up in September, at first, and then said it might be July, which obviously it wasn't, but it's completely finished now. This story has 10 chapters and is just over 37,000 words (not including the A/N notes I do).**

 **I'm working on a lot of stories, some longer then others, so I may not be uploading new stories every week, but I will not abandon posting fanfics. I also have a question on an upcoming project. Some people wanted only Regina to fall from the train in the last story, I Never Told You What I Do For A Living, and I thought about changing it, but I didn't. Instead, I've decided to write another story where Bucky doesn't fall from the train, but somebody else does, and that's Steve's fiancee and Howard's sister (Tony's aunt), Elenora Stark (Born December 16th 1919). Bucky gets frozen in the ice with Steve and you know what happens. Now, would you guys like EJ to lose her arm and get a metal one - like the Winter Soldier, which is what she is - or should she keep her flesh arm? Another thought that came to me last night was, should The Winter Soldier happen? Or after a mission for HYDRA, should she see a picture or Tony (thinking it was Howard), or Steve and Bucky, and she goes to find them.**

 **Anyway, on with the story. It might be a little confusing at first, but everything will make sense in the end (the end of Chapter 8 is when everything is revealed, if you haven't figured it out already by that point).**

 **The picture used is 'An amazing shot of the Crabs Nebula.'**

 **Please R &R, comment, subscribe, favourite and all that jazz, if you want to.**

 **T.C**

 **~oOo~**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Death of a Dream**

 _It was cold, and I was scared. A mask was covering the lower half of my face, making it hard to breathe properly, and the thin clothing didn't help to warm me up. My muscles ached with the cold, but it didn't stop the two people from dragging me; my arms around their shoulders, and my feet trailing along the floor behind me._

 _Everything felt very blurry, very disjointed. It was like I was slipping in and out of consciousness, or the lights being dimmed and then turned back up to full brightness again. Whether it was for minutes or seconds, it didn't help with trying to figure out what was going on._

 _But when they had dragged me where they wanted, they let me fall to the floor in a heap; the mask still covering my nose and mouth. And while things were coming back into focus, I was still slightly disorientated and confused about where I was, and what was going on._

 _And I only looked up when a pair of feet appeared in front of me. I was met with another person in a mask, a man. His hair brushed his shoulders, and his ice blue eyes were hard as he stared at me. He looked like a warrior, a soldier awaiting his orders, with his arms by his side; one flesh, and one metal._

 _He yanked me to my feet, lifting me from the floor like I weighed nothing. This was the end for me, I just knew it. Even without having heard an order, why else would I be here, if they weren't going to kill me? I couldn't think of why they would need to kill me, but they must have some reason to do it. Maybe I'd overheard something at work because that was always a very plausible possibility._

 _"_ Kill her. _" A voice said in another language, but it confused me because I didn't know how I understood what was being said. I didn't speak any other language, apart from French, and what was said, definitely wasn't in French._

 _The Soldier nodded before his metal hand wrapped itself around my throat, and he squeezed; slowly cutting off my air supply. And the more my lungs began to burn from the lack of oxygen, the more I tried to fight him; pleading with my eyes for him to let me go. To let me live._

 _But there is familiarity behind his blue eyes. It was like they were dead, and that seemed to scare me more than the thought of dying. Of never seeing my friends ever again. Of nobody knowing what had happened to me… Of them thinking I'd done this to myself._

 **~oOo~**

I bolted up in bed, breathing hard at the nightmare that I'd just woken up from. They had been coming more and more since I'd started my job at Triskelion four months ago, as the Personal Assistant of Alexander Pierce.

Nobody knew about my nightmares, not even my best friend, an ex-air force pararescueman named Sam Wilson. He now worked at the VA, helping other veterans struggling with the horrors of what they dealt with overseas. I helped out a couple of days a week, but I was never sure when I'd be needed by Pierce, so it wasn't a strict timetable of when I was going to be there.

After all the times that I'd woken up from my nightmares, I knew that there would be no way that I was going to be able to get back to sleep. So I got up, put on my running gear, and left my little apartment. Runs always helped get my thoughts in order, and calm me down.

Because it was so early, there would be hardly anybody out here. I always liked watching the colour of the sky change, and sometimes I would just sit by the water to watch it. Didn't matter if it was sunrise or sunset, I watched it anyway.

The repetitiveness of running was what made it calming - one foot in front of the other, only faster than walking. It was actually how I met Sam, which he still pretended to get annoyed at it because I lapped him. It's not my fault that he's so slow, but it did prompt me to sometimes hide out of sight just so I could run past him.

But today was different. Something was going to happen this week, and there was nothing anybody could do to stop it. It was just a feeling that I had, but I had this nagging sensation in the back of my head, that told me whatever was going to happen, it would be big, and it would change everything I thought I knew.

My thoughts were interrupted when I spotted Sam being passed by the Lincoln Memorial. He kept his steady pace but tried to increase his stride, so that he might catch the guy who lapped him; which would be impossible. The guy was already out of sight.

That's when I got an idea. The next time the guy came round, I was going to speed up, just so that I could annoy Sam. I knew it was mean, but after the dream that I'd had this morning, I needed a laugh, and Sam wasn't the one to hold grudges against his friends. He'd just laugh it off within a couple of hours.

In all honesty, the mystery man came faster than I expected and was lapping me again before we'd made it another three-quarters of a mile… It also meant that I had to sprint to catch up. I'd never had any problems with running fast though, and always seemed to be able to run faster and longer than any of my peers, so keeping this pace for a couple of minutes would be nothing to me.

"Don't say it! Don't say it!" I caught Sam saying, as he looked over his shoulder slightly.

"On your left." The mystery man said, overlapping Sam again, and continuing his fast pace. And I couldn't help but copy what the runner had just told Sam, so, within a couple of seconds of being lapped again, I was doing the exact same thing.

"Come on!" Sam yelled angrily, and actually tried to sprint after us, only to fall back to a walk after a couple of seconds; unable to keep up with us, and breathing heavily.

I slowed down to a walk as well, knowing that I didn't want to do another lap, and I also had to go home and change, before spending the morning with Sam at the VA, and then my afternoon at the Triskelion. Fury had been saying something about the Lemurian Star being off course, and I had been asked to sit in if anything major happened. Who was I to argue with what the boss wanted?

Sam almost collapsed against the tree and breathing hard, while I just laid on the grass next to him. "I… Hate… You." He gasped while putting a hand on his chest, "And… That… Talent you seem… To have with… Running."

"You love me, and you know it." I teased, spreading my arms out to the side; looking more like a starfish, or an upturned turtle in distress, "How else would I motivate you into being faster?"

He didn't answer that. He just sat against the tree, trying to catch his breath, while I couldn't help but chuckle at him; thinking that he was acting a little like a sulking child, but finding it funny as hell.

"Need a medic?" Somebody asked, but I was too comfy on the ground to look at how it was, or even open my eyes.

"I need a new set of lungs." Sam laughed, "Dude, you just ran, like thirteen miles in thirty minutes."

"I guess I got a late start."

"Oh, really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap." He hesitated for a couple of seconds, but I could tell he was also looking at me when he continued, "Did you take it? I assume you just took it."

It took a lot of effort to stop myself from bursting out in laughter. Sam was getting into his sarcastic phase, which he normally got after running with me, but after being lapped by the both me and the man he was currently talking to, he was going to use sarcasm against the both of us.

"What unit you with?"

"Fifty-eighth, Pararescue. But now I'm working down at the VA, with this one who tags along a couple days a week." I could tell he pointed to me, so I just did a little wave to the guy from where I was, not opening my eyes or even looking at him, "Sam Wilson."

"Steve Rogers."

I heard Sam grunt, and a shadow fell over my face. "I kinda of put that together. Must have freaked you out, coming home after the whole defrosting thing."

"It takes some getting used to. It's good to meet you, Sam."

"It's your bed, right?" I said, holding my arms up for Sam to pull me up.

"What's that?" He turned around, a look of shock creeping onto his face when he saw me, and I had no idea why. Maybe it was something about me that reminded him of somebody from his past.

"Your bed, it's too soft. When Sammy was over there, he said he'd sleep on the ground; using rocks for pillows. And now he's home, and he says it's like…"

He cut me off, by finishing with the exact same words that I was going to use. "Lying on a marshmallow. Feels like I'm gone sink right to the floor." Sam smiled, and I just nodded my head, "What's your name?"

"Diana Flynn. A friend of Sammy, and personal motivator. He's a really slow runner sometimes, so I just help him try to get faster."

"You just remind me of somebody else." He said, before looking back at Sam, "How long?"

"Two tours. You must miss the old days, huh?"

"Well, things aren't so bad." He admitted, "Food's a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot trying to catch up."

Sam smiled, looking almost thoughtful as he started to speak. "Marvin Gaye, nineteen seventy-two, 'Trouble Man' soundtrack. Everything you've missed, jammed into one album."

"I'll put that on the list." Steve got out a small, pocket-sized notebook, before writing down what Sam had told him. He'd only just finished writing, when his phone beeped, "Alright, Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run. If that's what you call running."

They shook hands, joking around, and talking about the VA before a sleek, black car pulled up by the curb; the window rolling down to show a pretty redhead in the driver's seat. She made some smart-ass comment about the Smithsonian, while Sam tried his hardest to flirt with her, without saying much. He wasn't very successful, but she did speak to him.

We watched them drive off, but I knew that if Steve had been called upon for a mission, then they were going to want me in the office by the time they arrived at the drop zone.

 **~oOo~**

I'd had less time at the VA then I'd wanted, but Sam understood that if I got called into work, then I had to leave. He knew I was a PA, but not where I worked or what I did there. He just knew, that if I was called, I had to go.

The mission had been a success though. The hostages were rescued, most of the pirates had been killed, the ship had been brought back into international waters, and everything was relatively okay. Nothing we couldn't talk our way out of. We just wrote it down as another successful mission by Captain America, Black Widow, and the STRIKE team.

However, Steve wasn't very happy. Apparently, Fury hadn't told him about Agent Romanoff having a different mission to his, and didn't share this piece of information with him.

So they were arguing with each other when I knocked on the door. I heard the raised voices, wanted to know if everything was okay, or if they needed anything. I had been on my way to drop off some files anyway, and curiosity got the better of me. Steve looked a little shocked to see me standing outside the door.

"You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that." Fury took the files off of me, before putting them on his desk, and leading the both of us towards the elevator, "Insight bay."

" _Captain Rogers and Miss Flynn do not have clearance for Project Insight._ " The S.H.I.E.L.D. computer said as the doors closed behind us.

"Director override, Fury, Nicholas J."

And the elevator started moving down after the override was given; taking us closer to Project Insight. I'd seen something about it on Pierce's desk, but I didn't know what it was exactly. I didn't pry into the file, just saw it with the bold, red ' ** _CONFIDENTIAL_** ' stamped across it.

"You know, they used to play music."

"Yeah." Fury leaned on the railing, "My grandfather operated one of these for forty years. My granddad worked in a nice building, he got good tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag." He started telling the two of us, "He'd say 'hi', people would say hi back. Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher. He'd say 'hi', they'd say 'keep on steppin'. Granddad got to grippin' that lunch bag a little tighter."

"Did he ever get mugged?" I asked.

"Every week some punk would say 'what's in the bag?'"

"What did he do?"

"He'd show 'em. Bunch of crumpled ones, and a loaded .22 Magnum."

As the elevator continued its descent, both Steve and I both turned around to see a large hanger - right under the Potomac - with three giant Helicarriers; people and vehicles moving around, and boxes were under each of the raised ships. Smaller jets were being lifted onto the decks of each Helicarrier, and people were checking each of the massive guns that adorned them.

"They're a little bit bigger than a .22," I commented, shocked that this had been planned, and built, under where I worked. Under a river that I passed every day. That this was going on, and I'd had no idea that it was happening.

We walked off of the elevator, and across the floor; passing workers who were leaving, or going off to another part of the hanger. Some had clipboards and orange jackets on, while others were just in normal S.H.I.E.L.D. gear.

"This is Project Insight. Three next-generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites."

"Launched from the Lemurian Star."

"Once we get them in the air, they never need to come down. Continuous suborbital flight, courtesy of our new repulser engines." Fury was explaining, and I didn't need to hear Steve ask who, to know that it was Tony Stark that designed them, "He had a few suggestions once he got an up-close look at our old turbines. These new long-range, precision guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside of his spider hole. We gonna neutralize a lot of these threats before they even happen."

The three of us came to a stop on a moving walkway that took us closer to one of the massive Helicarriers and only stopping when we reached the glass dome on the underside.

"I thought the punishment usually came after the crime.

"We can't afford to wait that long."

"Who's 'we'?"

"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once, we're way ahead of the curve."

That meant that every person on the planet, would have a gun on them, and they wouldn't even know it. What if somebody used it for bad, instead of the good that Fury was talking about? Sure, us humans weren't perfect, but did that mean all of us had to die for somebody else's mistake?

"… This isn't freedom. This is fear."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. It's getting damn near past time for you to get with that programme, Cap."

"Don't hold your breath."

And with that, Steve grabbed my wrist and started pulling me back towards the elevator; away from Director Fury and the three Helicarriers. He took me to his motorbike, handed me a helmet, and told me to 'get on.' Who was I to argue with the Captain?


	2. Hopes Up High, Heads Down Low

**Hey guys and gals. I forgot to welcome the new people and welcome back the old. And I also forgot to thank my beta, iKnightWriter, cause I'm an idiot.**

 **The reason this chapter is going up earlier then I'd normally do, is because I'm in a hotel and going home today. Literally, after we have breakfast (I'm doing this at the breakfast table), and get the car packed up, we're leaving for home, and I don't know when I'll get home, so I'd much rather upload now then when I get home.**

 **Anyway, on with the story. This has some more plot, but shit goes down in the next chapter, and then it's basically non-stop until the end. One chapter is nearly 5,000 words, and another is over 9,000 words, so all of you long chapter lovers will be happy with that.**

 **Thanks to everybody who's liked, subscribed, favourited and all that jazz. Please R &R or comment if you want.**

 **T.C**

 **~oOo~**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Hopes Up High, Heads Down Low**

Steve – now in civilian clothes – ended up taking me to the Smithsonian. They had a Captain America exhibit there, and he wanted to show me who I reminded him of… That, and the fact that he was angry with Fury, but knew he wouldn't take it out on somebody like me – reserved, quiet, and innocent to everything that appeared to be going on.

Before we entered the museum, he put a baseball cap on my head, and he did the same for himself. When I asked him why, he said that it would stop people from asking questions he didn't want to answer - ones that he knew that I couldn't answer - and that it would help us blend into the crowd as just innocent tourists, taking a tour while we were in town. And with all the people visiting, he didn't think that anybody would pay any mind to a 'couple' having a look around.

We walked into the exhibit – past President Ellis' 'Welcome back, Cap' and about how Steve had received the Super Soldier Serum – while a narrator talked about the story of Captain America was one of honor, bravery, and sacrifice. One kid even saluted the painting on the wall as he walked past.

There were pictures of Steve pre and post serum - with his height and weight before and after. A group of school children were measuring each other against a picture of 'Skinny Steve,' before it transitioned into a post-serum picture of him. One of the kids noticed Steve, but he just smiled and put a finger to his lips, before the little boy just nodded up at him; shocked that he had just seen Captain America himself.

Footage of Captain America running off into battle played next to a motorcycle, that I assumed to be his from back in the day, but I was too focused on a mural of the Howling Commandos, with replicas of each of their uniforms. But I was focused on one in particular. The only female Commando and she looked exactly like me. We could be twins, that how much we looked alike.

And then I turned around, not able to look at the picture of my doppelgängers serious face anymore, only to be confronted with another picture of her. She was smiling in this one, and she had her arm around one of the other Commandos. He was smiling down at her, while she was smiling towards the camera. They were both in their Howling Commandos uniforms, and her hair was braided over one shoulder, just like I styled my own hair before pinning it up for work.

 **~oOo~**

 _The Fallen Lovers_

 _Regina Elizabeth 'Beth' Larson and James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes_

 _In the early October of 1942, Beth Larson and Bucky Barnes met in a London pub, and it was there that their relationship began. Corresponding only through letters for the next couple of months, tragedy struck when the young spy found herself captured by HYDRA, only to be followed by Barnes months later._

 _At the hands of Zola, the two were tortured until Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes' childhood best friend and now Captain America came to the rescue of those two and the rest of the prisoners in the factory. And while Schmidt and Zola were not captured that night, all the prisoners made it to the safety of the 107th Camp, more than thirty miles away, and taking HYDRA technology back with them._

 _The three of them became almost inseparable. Not only did they train and storm enemy bases together, but they also became the best of friends. And despite being from a different country, and a lot younger, then the childhood friends, it was like the three of them had been friends all their lives, rather than the months that they'd known each other._

 _But their will, while strong, was not enough to save them. In a cruel twist of fate, the two met their untimely demise while protecting their friend, Steve, and refused to leave each other behind, even if it meant dying together. And to this day, Barnes is the only one who was allowed to call Larson, Lizzie._

 _Lizzie Larson ... Bucky Barnes_

 _1921 – 1944 ... 1917 – 1944_

 **~oOo~**

"… _Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both school year and battlefield. It became true for Beth Larson when the three went into battle together."_ The narrator was saying, " _Barnes and Larson are the only Howling Commandos to give their lives in service of their countries. The two had planned to marry once the war was over, before their deaths while attempting to apprehend Arnim Zola_."

A video of the three of them was playing underneath the memorial. One was from them out in the field, probably figuring out a plan of action. Then there was one of them joking around and laughing. The last one that I watched, was Bucky and Beth dancing together. It was slow, and they were smiling at each other like they were the only two that existed. I found it sad, that they died so young. Beth was only twenty-three when she died. The same age as I am now.

"I look exactly like her. How do I look exactly like her?" I whispered to Steve when he came to stand beside me, "What must have been going through your head when we met?"

"To be honest, I have no idea why you look like her." Steve admitted, looking over at me, "To my knowledge, neither of her brothers ever had any children, but she didn't talk about any other family members. You could be a distant relative. And I was shocked when I saw you. It took me a few seconds to remember that Beth had died and that there was no possible way that you could be her. Not after all this time."

We then made our way into a little cinema room, where it was showing interviews with some of the Howling Commandos - about why they joined the Commandos, what they wanted, and a variety of other questions. The one that stood out the most to me, was when Beth's interview started playing.

" _I joined because my friend asked if I wanted to. I was the first to be asked, and the first to say yes. We're going to kick Johann Schmidt's ass, and I want to be first in line to do it_." She smiled, looking so full of life, and with so much potential, " _I want to make my parents, and my brothers proud. Proud of who I am, and what I'm doing; to honor their memory. And when it's all over, I'm going to take a very long nap, in a nice comfy bed_."

It went onto playing other Commandos videos before it started showing one from nineteen fifty-three with Peggy Carter. She talked about how Steve had saved over a thousand men from behind a HYDRA blockade, in the middle of a blizzard, that had pinned the Allies down for months.

While she was talking, Steve pulled out an old compass and opened it. The picture on the inside was of a young woman, cut out from a newspaper, and I could tell that it was Peggy Carter. She may have looked younger in the photo, but it was definitely her and was most likely from the nineteen forties. It had probably been taken not long after she joined the Strategic Scientific Reserve.

But it was as we were leaving the museum though, that Steve started to ask his questions. Everybody did at some point, and I could either lie, and let it come back to bite me, or I could tell the truth, which most people thought was a lie. However, seeing as Steve had been honest with me when I had asked my questions, I thought I'd give him the same courtesy.

"So how did you end up working for S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Director Fury and Secretary Pierce hired me." I told him, walking with my hand in the pockets of my blazer, "I'd been in some kind of accident, and I had no idea who I was, and had no memories of anything before I woke up in the hospital. I made friends with the man in the bed next to me, who just so happened to be an agent. Then the next thing I know, I'm being hired as a Personal Assistant."

"So you had no memory at all?"

"Just my name, and my date of birth. We were able to ascertain that I must have grown up in England because of my accent, but other then that, it's a complete mystery as to who I am." I shrugged, adjusting the baseball cap on my head, "Sam thought that helping out at the VA, listening to the veterans stories, might help bring back some of my memories, but all I've been getting are nightmares."

"What are they about?"

After a deep breath, I answered. "Being murdered."

And it was at this moment, that my phone decided to play my message alert, and it caused the both of us to jump when it dinged very loudly. _WSC meeting. Need you in the office,_ it read, and I knew then, that my lunch break was over. Whatever Steve had planned to do next, was going to have to be done without me, but he seemed like the person who'd understand.

 **~oOo~**

How I did it, I have no idea, but I made it back to the Triskelion in record time. I thought that it would take me a lot longer to get from the Smithsonian to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, but it only took me about ten minutes. And I made it up to Pierce's office before he started the video conference with the other four members of the World Security Council.

When I'd sat in on my first meeting with them, I was shocked to see four people sitting in high back chairs, each behind a glass cylinder. And when they just disappeared at the end of the meeting, I'd been very confused as to where they'd gone. It was then, that I'd been told that it was some new technology that they'd been working on, where a person could be projected into a room and could attend meetings without any of them actually being in the same room or country.

"If Nick Fury thinks he can get his costume thugs and STRIKE commandos to clean up his mess, he's sadly mistaken." Councilman Rockwell was saying from his hologram, "This failure is unacceptable."

"Considering this attack took place one mile from my country's sovereign waters, it's a bit more than that. I move for an immediate hearing." Councilman Nagendra Singh told the rest of the room.

Councilwoman Hawley spoke next. "We don't need hearings, we need action. It's this Council's duty to oversee S.H.I.E.L.D.."

"A breach like this raises serious questions." The last Council member, Yen, commented before whatever else he was going to say, was cut off by Rockwell speaking again.

"Like how the hell did a French pirate manage to hijack a covert S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel in broad daylight?"

"For the record, Councilman, he's Algerian." I spoke up, a little afraid because they all looked so intimidating, and I didn't know how Pierce would react to what came out of my mouth next, "I can draw you a map if it'd help."

But Pierce cracked a small smile as he stopped pacing and turned his head to me, but I don't think Rockwell found it very funny. "I appreciate your wit, Miss Flynn. But this Council takes things like international piracy fairly seriously."

"Really? I don't." Pierce looked at all of them individually, before his flow pacing across the room began again, "I don't care about one boat, I care about the fleet. If this Council is going to fall to rancor every time someone pushes us on the playing field, maybe we need someone to oversee us."

"Mr. Secretary, nobody is suggesting…" I noticed Nick Fury standing in Pierce's office, which was behind the glass of the room that we were currently in, so I got up to inform my boss, by whispering in his ear.

After I told him, he started following me out of the room with a quick 'excuse me.' One of the other Council members, Rockwell, asked if he was in trouble. Pierce just said that it depended on his definition of the word before the holograms disappeared. It still amazed me, even after seeing it more than once.

"I work forty floors away, and it takes a hijacking for you to visit?"

"A nuclear war would do it, too." They joked with each other, shaking hands as they did so, "You busy in there?"

They both looked towards the now empty room the two of us had just vacated; their hands sliding into their trouser pockets after they finished shaking them. "Nothing some earmarks can't fix."

"I'm here to ask a favour." Nick said after a couple of seconds, "I want you to call for a vote. Project Insight has to be delayed." It looked like it was the last thing Director Fury wanted to do, but he knew that he had to ask. The look on his face just told the entire story. It was like he didn't trust Pierce, but had no other choice, then to ask him for this massive favour.

"Nick, that's not a favour, that's a sub-committee hearing. A long one."

"It could be nothing. It probably is nothing. I just need time to make sure it's nothing."

"But if it is something?" I asked tentatively.

Fury looked directly at me, almost like he was trying to figure something out. Like I was a puzzle that needed to be solved or a question that needed answering. "Then we'll all be damn glad those Helicarriers aren't in the air."

I looked between the two men, almost expecting a fight to break out between them. They'd been friends for years, but something was going on, and I didn't know what it was. Just in the last couple of minutes, they'd been speaking as if they were strangers. There was no warmth in their tones, it was just strictly business. It wasn't something that I expected from the two of them, especially as they'd known each other for so long, and Nick had saved Pierce's daughter from certain death. Now I understood that you had to be professional at work, but with only the three of us in the room, I didn't see any reason not to be friendly towards each other.

"Fine. But you got to get Iron Man to stop by my niece's birthday party."

"Thank you, sir." Fury said, nodding his head and shaking hands again.

"And not just a flyby. He's got to mingle."

That almost made me laugh. From what I'd been able to find out from the internet, and other people around S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony Stark didn't play well with others, he was self-obsessed, and was a massive playboy. Oh yeah, he'd do great at a children's birthday party.


	3. Lay Still Like The Dead

**Hey guys and gals. Here we are with the first 3rd person chapter of the story (there's three - Chapters 7 and 9 are the other two).**

 **This is where the shit goes down, and from the title of the chapter - and from what happens in the movie - you probably know what is about to happen. So I'll keep this note short, and let you get on with reading the chapter. You have no idea how hard it was to write in the Phantom to the fight scenes, keep it entertaining, and make it seem natural.**

 **Thanks to all those who have favourited, subscribed, followed, reviewed and all that jazz.**

 **Please R &R/comment if you want.**

 **T.C**

 **PS. I started watching Daredevil last night, and it's really good. I told my mama who plays Matt Murdock, and she's now really upset. She said, and I quote, 'I'm devastated. He was so cute.' She really liked him as Tristan in Stardust.**

 **~oOo~**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Lay Still Like The Dead**

Nick Fury was driving his S.H.I.E.L.D. issue SUV. It was just a normal day in Washington, but the man was worried about something. In his mind, things weren't adding up, and it had him concerned. He was looking around, viewing everybody with suspicion, all except for a select few that he knew wouldn't betray his trust.

" _Activating communications encryption protocol._ " The electronic voice said.

"Open secure line zero-four, zero-five."

" _Confirmed_."

Once the call connected, Maria Hill answered. Despite everything that he said about not trusting people, he told Maria things that were bothering him. He trusted her to keep his secrets and to know when she shouldn't trust certain people with sensitive information, as well as when it was okay to reveal top secret plans, even after keeping them to herself for so long.

" _This is Hill_."

"I need you here in D.C. Deep shadow conditions."

" _Give me four hours_."

"You have three. Over."

Fury came to a stop at an intersection. The lights behind him were at red, and the only other moving vehicle around him was a police car that ended up coming to a stop next to him. He looked over to see both the cops staring at him. They were both wearing sunglasses and police hats, but they weren't focusing on what was in front of them.

"Want to see my lease?" Fury asked dryly, before looking out of the window shield and paying them no mind.

But the cops didn't answer. The driver just pressed the siren button once, and drove off, while the other one continued to talk into the radio. It seemed a little strange that, especially when there was no reason to in the first place, and it didn't stay on, so there wasn't an emergency that they needed to get to. And the speed they drove off at, also showed that they weren't in a hurry to get anywhere.

However, almost as soon as Fury pulled away, somebody slammed into the side of his SUV. The airbags deployed at the sudden collision, but the other car didn't stop moving. In fact, it kept pushing Fury's SUV towards the bollards on the street corner.

And if he'd hoped for a quick getaway, three more police cars blocked his other escape routes. One of the police cars was the one that had stopped next to Fury in the first place, and it was the one that had given the signal to proceed with the plan. That they'd found their target, and it was time to set the plan in motion.

" _Fracture detected_." The electronic voice announced, a rapid beeping occurring, while a 'Health Diagnosis' overview appeared on the window shield; a red, flashing circle appearing on the left forearm of the basic picture of a human figure, " _Recommend anesthetic injection_."

The police car that had originally hit the SUV, reversed back to let a black van pass in front. When it stopped, men in tactical gear climbed out of the back; moving to surround the now wrecked S.H.I.E.L.D. car that Fury was trapped in.

" _D.C. Metro Police dispatch shows no units in this area_." Fury looked up while he was injecting himself with the anesthetic, to see the fake police getting out of their cars to point their guns at him.

"Get me out of here."

That's when the bullets started being fired. While the bullets didn't penetrate through the car's armour, they did cause fracture lines to appear in the glass, and dents to be created on the doors and bonnet.

" _Propulsion systems offline_."

"Then reboot dammit!"

Bullets kept pelting the car, still causing no significant damage, but causing sparks to fly as they scraped across the metal. The overview in the car showed the 'Armour Integrity' was eighty-three percent, and it started falling with every bullet that hit; quickly falling to eighty-two, eighty-one, and eighty.

Then the bullets stopped. Nick looked around, thinking that the worst of the attack was over… But then he saw the battering ram being lifted from another black, windowless van, by four SWAT clad impostors. They then carried it towards Fury's SUV and set it down next to the driver's side window.

" _Warning. Window integrity compromised_."

"You think?" Fury moved from the driver's seat to the passenger one, while the battering ram was being secured into the ground, "How long to propulsion?"

" _Calculating_." The first hit from raw battering ram caused the SUV to jolt, " _Window integrity thirty-one percent. Deploying countermeasures_."

"Hold that order!"

" _Window integrity nineteen percent_." The voice told Fury after the second violent jolt, " _Offensive measures advised_."

"Wait!"

The third, and final, hit caused the window's integrity to fall to one percent, and that is when Fury decided to act. A machine gun popped up in-between the seats, and Nick started firing almost immediately.

He took out the people closest to the SUV in the first wave of bullets fired by him, and then shot whoever else he could with the limited amount of ammunition that he had; getting the fake cops behind the cars as he shot. Then he fired two explosives, one at a van, and the other at one of the police cars, and when they exploded, it created just enough of a distraction and time for the S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV to finish rebooting.

" _Propulsion systems now online_."

"Full acceleration! Now!" Fury didn't stop shooting as the engine revved; the SUV reversing into one of the police cars, and then driving forward to make a quick escape, "Initiate vertical takeoff!"

" _Flight systems damaged_."

"Then activate guidance cameras!" Fury jumped from the passenger seat, back into the drivers; groaning as he hit his arm on the door, "Give me the wheel!"

So with bullet holes in the body of the car, a damaged window shield, a missing window, a fractured wrist, and being chased by police impostors, Fury started driving through downtown Washington; swerving in and out of normal traffic, while attempting to shake off the people who were currently trying to kill him.

"Get me, Agent Hill."

" _Communications array damaged_."

"Well, what's not damaged?"

" _Air conditioning is fully operational_."

And with that, the chase continued. Fury was pulling away slightly, but it became harder to continue the high-speed chase when the traffic started to get heavier, and closer together. There were more chances of a civilian being injured in the crossfire. But the more traffic there was, the easier it became to lose the tail, seeing as they kept getting trapped behind the cars that had been forced to stop.

" _Traffic alert on Roosevelt Bridge. All vehicles stopped. Seventeenth Avenue clear in three blocks, directly ahead_."

Cars got rammed out of the way, and a couple was even forced to make an emergency stop, that also blocked off the entire road. It didn't stop the pursuers from trying to get to Fury though, because while he was still trying to evade them by getting further into traffic, some started chasing him on foot.

People were screaming and running away, but it didn't stop the firefight that was taking place. One of the shooters even jumped onto a car bonnet to gain some leverage; firing bullets into the car, before running off to pick another place to shoot from.

More of the impostors started climbing over people's cars and running along the pavement to try and catch up to the damaged SUV. One of them started shooting through the windows of a bus, while another tried to do damage from behind. But Nick Fury wasn't an idiot, and it certainly wasn't going to be easy to kill him. Many had tried, and all had failed in their attempts.

Not letting the SUV stop for any longer then it had to, Fury switched into reverse to hit the shooter behind him, before changing pack to drive so that he could accelerate into another car, which in turn, hit one of the other shooters.

But that didn't stop the chase. The two remaining police cars weren't going to give up, so all three vehicles skidded onto another road filled with late afternoon traffic; dangerously over and undertaking people as their horns blared after them. On a couple of occasions, one of the pursuing cars actually drove into oncoming traffic.

One of the remaining impostors changed the magazine in his gun, before he leaned out the window of the cop car, and started shooting. He didn't have a lot of luck, as he hit the sides of a black van and a red lorry before Fury decided to end the chase, once and for all.

He got right up close to one of the cars; pulling the shooter partly into his SUV, and then wrestling for the gun. The other car tried to block him in, but it was no use. Fury hit the shooter with his own gun, and then, when he didn't stop, smashed his wrist into the steering wheel.

" _Warning. Approaching intersection_." And Nick slammed on the brakes, letting the other two cars continue their high-speed chase, right into the path of an oncoming lorry, that hit both the remaining cars from the attack.

"Get me off the grid!" Fury turned onto yet another road, but this time, he wasn't being followed.

"Calculating route to secure location."

And just as he thought that he'd escaped, two figures dressed in black, emerged through the bullet damaged window shield. They were just standing there, in the middle of the road; waiting for their opportunity to attack their target.

The taller of the two raised his arm, and shot a circular disc towards Fury's SUV, which scraped the road slightly, before attaching itself to the underside of the target vehicle, and exploding; sending black smoke and a burst of flames across the street, while the force of the blast caused the SUV to flip over onto its roof. And just before the SUV completed its flip, the two, black-clad soldiers, stepped out of the way.

Black smoke followed behind the now destroyed vehicle, causing people to stop and stare as it came to a complete stop down the road, a little way from where the two soldiers had gracefully sidestepped. But now they were stalking towards the now stationary SUV; coming out of the clearing smoke, like hunters going after their prey, and that's exactly what they were doing.

Fury knew that he had to make a quick getaway, because if those two made it to him, he certainly wasn't going to be able to fight them off, not with how injured he was from the first wave of the attack, and the resulting car crash.

So as the two soldiers made their way towards to the upturned wreckage, which was now billowing white smoke, Fury got on to cutting his way through the roof of his SUV, and the road underneath. But the time they made it to the smoking vehicle, the Winter Soldier had ripped the door away, and both their mask covered faces had looked inside, Fury had made his escape.

 **~oOo~**

After going to visit Peggy Carter in the hospital, and then making his way to see Sam Wilson at the VA, Steve Rogers made it home long after the day had ended; arriving on his motorcycle.

As he was making his way up the stairs towards his apartment, he could hear his neighbor, Kate, talking to somebody on the phone. They flirted a little after she got off the phone, and she was just about to leave when she told him that she thought he'd left his stereo on. And after listening carefully, he could hear 'It's Been A Long, Long Time' by Harry James and his Orchestra, but Steve knew for certain that he only had that on vinyl, and he definitely hadn't been listening to that this morning. Somebody was inside his place.

The thought of somebody being in his apartment scared Steve. At times, he even thought that he was still 'Skinny Steve,' a forties kid from Brooklyn, trying desperately to join the army, despite his long list of health problems. Because, while it may have been over seventy years since the first Super Soldier for most people, he had only been like this for a couple of years.

But then he'd remember that he wasn't that skinny kid anymore. He could fight back, knowing that he wasn't going to get beaten to a pulp; which always seemed to happen when he was growing up. And whoever was waiting for him in his apartment, was most likely expecting him to enter through the front door, so he knew that he couldn't be predictable. In fact though, in his haste to get in through the window, he completely missed the two figures standing on the rooftop opposite; the metal arm of the Soldier glinting in the light.

Almost as soon as he'd climbed through the window, the music stopped playing, only to resume a few seconds later. Steve picked up his shield from where it rested on one of the bookshelves and slid his arm through the grips on the back. He was ready to fight whoever was in there.

Steve didn't need to worry though, it wasn't an enemy waiting for him – even if the two weren't getting on at the moment. Nick Fury was laying in almost complete darkness, by the record player; only the pale orange of the streetlights illuminated the room.

"I don't remember giving you a key," Steve said, leaning against the wall which he'd been peering around seconds before.

Nick grunted in pain, sitting up, and putting a phone on the arm of the chair. "You really think I'd need one? My wife kicked me out."

"I didn't know you were married."

"A lot of things you don't know about me."

"I know, Nick." Steve stepped out of his hiding place, and towards Fury, "That's the problem."

It was at that moment, that Steve turned on the lamp next to where Fury was sitting. Steve was shocked to see him bruised, bloodied, and scared, all of which hadn't been there earlier that morning when they'd had their disagreement about Natasha Romanoff having a different mission than the rest of the team.

And, as if Nick expected Steve to say something, he put his hand up to silence him, before turning off the light and started typing something into his phone. _EARS EVERYWHERE_ , he showed Steve, who instantly got the message, and started looking around his living room for any evidence of tampering.

"I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had nowhere else to crash." He told Steve, as he typed another message onto his phone.

 _SHIELD COMPROMISED._

"Who else knows about your wife?"

"Just… My friends." He said, standing up, and showing the final message. _YOU AND ME._

"Is that what we are?"

"That's up to you."

Suddenly, bullets started coming through the wall, right into Nick Fury's body. He shouted in pain as he fell to the ground; a light puff of smoke filling the room. It was coming from the brick dust and plaster that had been forced into the room, due to the velocity and caliber of the three bullets used.

Fury continued to groan as Steve pulled him across the floor, and behind the wall that he had sheltered himself behind. From out of the window, he could see the light bouncing off of the Winter Soldiers arm, but he didn't see the figure of the Winter Phantom in the darkness; hidden just out of sight, as she packed up the rifle that had been used.

"Don't… Trust… Anyone." Fury gasped, grabbing Steve's arm, and handing him the same memory stick that Natasha had been using to collect information on the Lemurian Star before he passed out.

Just as Fury said this, Steve's door was kicked open, and in walked 'Kate.' She was holding a gun, moving like she'd been trained, and calling out 'Captain Rogers' as she made her way towards them.

"Captain. I'm Agent 13 with S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Service."

"Kate?" Steve was very confused that his neighbor had just told him she was an Agent when he thought that she was just a nurse. And with Fury's warning about not trusting anyone, he didn't know what to think. She could be lying for all he knew.

She told him that it was her assignment to protect him, and it had been on Fury's orders. So she called for back up and EMTs, saying 'Foxtrot is down. He's unresponsive.' They asked if they had a twenty on the shooter, to which Steve said that he was in pursuit.

What was weird about the whole thing though, was that the Soldier had stayed on the rooftop, almost like he was waiting for somebody to come after him. To chase him, so that he could show off his real strength.

Steve jumped through his window, across to the building opposite, and started sprinting through the offices and hallways. He caught sight of the Soldier running along the rooftop above him, but neither of them stopped; crashing through walls and doors, sending papers flying everywhere, and even denting a wall, as he refused to let the shooter get away.

He saw the Soldier drop down onto the rooftop directly ahead of him; doing a forward roll, and continuing to run. Steve shattered another window as he jumped out of it, and wasting no as little time as possible, before throwing his shield at the retreating figure.

It came as a complete shock though, when the Soldier abruptly stopped, and caught the shield with his metal arm, without so much as batting an eyelid. You could hear the Vibranium echoing against the titanium. It should have been something that was impossible, but it had happened before Steve's very eyes.

The eyes of the Soldier were dark and cold, a mask covering half of his face, and some black face paint surrounded his already menacing eyes. The red star of Russia was almost proudly emblazoned on the shoulder of his uncovered, metal arm.

But before Steve could fully comprehend what was going on, the Soldier launched the shield back at him, with enough force to send him sliding back against the tiled roof. And by the time Steve looked up and made his way to the edge of the roof, the Winter Soldier had disappeared into the night.


	4. Revenge Loves Company

**Hey guys and gals. This chapter hasn't been edited cause my friend and beta, iKnightWriter, has been a little busy over the last couple of weeks, so anything in this chapter that's wrong, is all my fault.**

 **I picked up Infinity War on Monday, which was awesome, and I was able to find a Black Widow Pop Funko as well - the IW one. I already know the ending for the IW story - which may be called A Love Like War, but that might change - but it all depends on how Avengers 4 goes. So the next story, Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back, will not be going online till next year, just so that there's not a huge wait between story 4 and 5.**

 **Anyway, on with the story. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed, commented, favourited, subscribed, and all that jazz. It means so much to me.**

 **Please R &R/comment if you want.**

 **T.C**

 **PS. The 'crazy red head' is Natasha, and Rumlow admiring Steve are both in the audio commentary of The Winter Soldier. The Russo's said that a cop tried to tell Natasha not to park where she did, so she broke his arm.**

 **~oOo~**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Revenge Loves Company**

What woke me up, apart from the splitting headache that I'd seemed to acquire at some point since going to sleep, was the buzzing of my phone against the wood of my bedside cabinet. It was too early for it to be anything but an emergency call, but I was too tired to even register that, and I didn't bother to look at my caller ID.

"Hello?" I answered groggily, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand.

"Diana? It's Steve. Fury's been shot, and it doesn't look good."

The phone almost slipped from my hand as the words started to make sense to me. Fury had logged in that he was taking the rest of the day off. I could only assume that he would have gone home, to write his argument to delay Project Insight, before the scheduled meeting in a couple of days.

"That's not possible. He should be at home."

"I watched it happen. I chased who did it, but he got away." He told me calmly, like he was trying to stop me from panicking, "You should come to the hospital. If somebody went after Fury, then they might go for Pierce next. And seeming as you're his PA, they might come after you too. You shouldn't be alone."

 **~oOo~**

After a quick change – which was really just putting on a baggy, Blues Brothers t-shirt, a pair of Vans, and keeping my long pyjama pants on – I called a cab to take me to the hospital. The outside of the hospital was lined with cop cars and officers. I found one copper sitting on the ground, cradling his arm, and muttering something about a crazy red head.

Everybody going in was being checked, and I had to show my S.H.I.E.L.D. ID, and have Rumlow come talk to me before they let me through into the hospital. All the STRIKE team was milling around in the hallways, but I just ran towards the room that they were waiting around.

"…Had a metal arm." I heard Steve say as I burst through the door.

Maria Hill and Natasha stood beside Steve, all of them looking through the window to see how the surgery was going. The surgeons were pulling out bullets and pieces of shrapnel, all while trying to stop the internal bleeding, and keep his heart beating. Injuries like these would - and should - have killed a normal person, but this was Nick Fury. He was a lot harder to kill then the average person.

"Ballistics?" Natasha asked, not taking her eyes off of Fury.

"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable." Hill answered.

"Soviet made."

Agent Hill looked over to Natasha, before one of the nurses called out that Fury was in V-tach, and that they needed to get the crash cart in. His heart had stopped, and they were now trying to get it started again, along with everything else they had to deal with. As if their job wasn't hard enough to begin with.

Natasha was muttering to herself, begging for him not to do this to her, while they shocked his unconscious body; desperately trying to get his heart beating again. The doctors were talking to each other, but all we could do, was watch as their attempts failed, and the red line stay flat.

And then they called it. Nick Fury died at one-oh-three… And I couldn't stay in that room any longer. I had to get away.

So I ran out into the corridor; the pain in my head seeming to get worse as I sat down on one of the plastic seats. It was like it was haunting me. Telling me that this was all my fault, and I just couldn't remember it.

My hands started to shake. I couldn't think properly. Nothing was making any sense, and yet, I felt like it should - like a jigsaw missing some pieces, or hearing the lyrics to a song, and not having the tune. It was almost like I had all the pieces I needed to solve the puzzle, but at the same time, I didn't.

Somebody put their arm around my shoulders. It was Maria Hill. She'd left the viewing room, and was probably just waiting to take his body away. It's funny that even in death, we're kept on a schedule. Death is suppose to be peaceful.

"Are you alright?" She asked me, putting a hand to my head, "You look really pale, and you're freezing."

"I'm fine. Just a headache, cause I haven't had enough sleep."

"Make sure you get some rest then." And she got up, and walked into another room. One that I guessed was holding Fury's body.

I felt like I could have fallen asleep right here, on the uncomfortable chair, with the too bright lights, and the armed agents wandering the corridors… But I also knew that I couldn't, because of all the things I just listed. And I could just imagine all the paperwork that would need to be filled in, and all the other things that would have to be signed, and sent out, and the people who'd need to be told. The next few days were going to be a nightmare.

"Natasha?"

"What was Fury doing in your apartment?"

"I don't know."

"Cap, they want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D." Rumlow turned to me, "They want you in as well, Diana."

There goes my plan of going home and sleeping. He hasn't even been dead five minutes, and they're already getting started on the paperwork. They don't even wait until a decent time in the morning, so my workday is going to be very long. Mind you, when you work for an organization like S.H.I.E.L.D., I guess nothing really stops.

But something seemed off about Rumlow. I wouldn't say that he was friends with Steve, but he certainly admired the guy. Now he was being short, and to the point. He was even trying to rush Steve into finishing a conversation with his friend, and trying to get me up as fast as he could.

"STRIKE, move it out." Rumlow ordered as soon as Steve made his way to where we were standing.

 **~oOo~**

While it may not have been ideal, I was able to get a few hours sleep before it was time to question Steve, but I was glad to have been able to have something, rather then nothing. At least my headache had gone away for the most part, so I wasn't as confused about what was going on.

From inside the meeting room, I could hear Pierce and Agent 13 talking. Now that her cover had been blown, she was in need of another assignment, and with the death of Fury, everything was in chaos. So she was going to be working on a desk until everything got sorted out.

She soon left, and Steve arrived dressed in his full Captain America uniform – shield as well. He wasn't happy that 'Kate' had lied to him the entire time that he'd known her, and however annoyed she was at him for giving her the cold shoulder, she had to remember that everything she'd told him, was about as far from the truth as you could get.

"Ah, Captain. I'm Alexander Pierce."

"Sir, it's an honor." Steve said, shaking hands with my boss.

"The honor's all mine, Captain. My father served in the one-oh-first. Come on in."

Steve followed Pierce inside the room, and stood beside one of the massive screens in the office. Pierce was hanging his jacket over the back of one of the chairs at the table, while I sorted through some paperwork, and Steve looked at an old picture of Nick and Alexander.

"That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met, when I was at State Department in Bogota." He moved a couple of files that I had finished going through, "E.L.N. rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was Deputy Chief of the S.H.I.E.L.D. station there, and he come to me with a plan." With one of the files in hand, he started making his way over to where Steve was, "He wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said 'no, we'll negotiate.' Turns out, the E.L.N. didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They storm the basement, and what do they find? They find it empty." The two of them sat down on the comfy chairs, "Nick had ignored my direct order, and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil, and saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

"So you gave him a promotion?"

"I never had any reason to regret it." Steve nodded, and looked down at the table, "Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?"

Both Steve and I looked at him. This was the first I could remember about hearing about Fury being in Steve's apartment, but I could have heard it in the hospital, when everything was very confusing. When he'd said he watched what happened, I assumed he'd seen it from down the road, or they'd been meeting up, and that's when it had happened.

With a shake of his head, Steve answered. "I don't know."

"Did you know it was bugged?"

"I did, because Nick told me."

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?"

They remained in silence for a few seconds, like Pierce was letting it sink in. That Fury wasn't the man we thought he was, and that he'd been keeping secrets from everybody… But he'd shown us Project Insight, he'd shared information with Steve on the night he died. All of this wasn't making any sense.

"I want you to see something."

Pierce pressed one of the buttons on a remote, and a live feed of Georges Batroc appeared on the screen. He was being interrogated, by the looks of it, and he looked and sounded nothing like he had on he Lemurian Star. All his cockiness had been replaced with slumped shoulders.

"Is that live?"

"Yeah, they picked him up in a not-so-safe house in Algiers."

The two men interrogating Batroc kept circling him, asking him questions, and keeping him under the bright, overhead light. Just looking at that scared me. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to actually be sitting in that room.

"Are you saying he's a suspect?" Steve asked, "Assassination isn't Batroc's line."

"No, no. It's more complicated than that." Pierce told him, "Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star. And he was contacted by e-mail and paid by wire transfer, and then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts." Steve looked at him when he said the number, "The last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech."

Secretary Pierce handed Steve one of the files from the table. "Am I supposed to know who that is?"

"Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 14-35 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick, his mother lived at 14-37."

"Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?" I was curious to know the answer, especially now that things were coming out of the woodworks, and only coming out after he was dead.

"The prevailing theory, was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour, and that led to Nick's death."

You could almost cut the tension with a knife, as we all remained silent. Why was it that after somebody died, all these rumors started spreading? And how were people able to find them out so quickly? He'd been dead for under twelve hours, and already they had all this incriminating evidence… Almost like they knew that he was going to die.

"If you really knew Nick Fury, you'd know that's not true."

"Why do you think we're talking?" Pierce stood up, walked to the window, and looked out over D.C., "See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to, but because Nick asked me to, because we were both realists. We knew that despite all the diplomacy, and the handshaking, and the rhetoric, to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down. And that makes enemies." He turned round to face Steve, "Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud, and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today make me really, really angry." The he stopped, and took a calculating breath, "Captain, you were the last person to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident. And I don't think you do, either. So I'm going to ask again. Why was he there?"

"He told me not to trust anyone."

"I wonder if that included him."

There was something about the way he said it, that made me wonder if he was being entirely truthful. The pauses he took, and the fact that I remembered hearing Natasha say that he was a terrible liar.

He was just putting the shield on his back, when Pierce called him back. "Captain, somebody murdered my friend, and I'm going to find out why. Anybody gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone."

"Understood."

Pierce had told me, that after the meeting with Steve, I could go home. To get a good sleep, in a proper bed, instead of slumped over a desk in the office. But I also had a feeling that something was going to happen, and that he didn't want me around for it. I think it might've had something to do with the conversation I'd overheard, and nobody knew that I'd been awake to hear it.

"Captain Rogers." I hoped that that got his attention. I'd only called him Steve since I'd met him a couple of days ago, but I had my fingers crossed hat he'd notice, "I need to take a couple of these boxes to the cupboard, and I'm not tall enough to get some of them onto the shelf. I was just wondering if you could help."

Thankfully, he agreed, and took a couple of the boxes off the table. I just had to get him alone, to warn him of what was most likely going to happen. I didn't know how Fury had told him about his place being bugged, but I think it might have been done on his phone. He wouldn't have risked somebody hearing what he told Steve.

So I typed it out before hand. Only little bullet points, but it would be enough to get the message across. He didn't have to know everything. Just enough to know the situation, and now that he was in danger.

Almost as soon as the door to the room closed, I'd handed him my phone. _PIERCE UP TO SOMETHING. YOU'RE IN DANGER. CAPTURE OR KILL ON SIGHT. MEET ME AT THE GYM. TRACKING DEVICE IN SUIT. BE CAREFUL OF RUMLOW. LET ME LEAVE FIRST._

I looked at him to make sure he had read it, and understood what I was trying to tell him. He gave me a small nod, before he handed the phone back to me. If I left first, I could get out before they put the place on lockdown. I just hoped my plan worked, because I didn't know what would happen to us if it didn't.

"Thank you for helping me, Captain." I said as we left, all the boxes on the right shelves, and acting like nothing had happened while we were inside, "Will I see you on my morning run tomorrow?"

"Er… Yeah, probably."

"Alright. See you later, Captain." And I walked off towards the elevator, and went down to the freedom of outside.


	5. Wake Me Up

**Hey guys and gals. We're now halfway through the story. I know, crazy. And I also know that many people may understand what is going on in this chapter (with where I'm going/planning) but if you figure it out, please be respectful of those who haven't.**

 **I have changed some of the chapter from the movie, but not by much. Instead of Natasha on the laptop, it's Diana. I thought it was a smart move, that's why I did it. If it annoys you, I'm sorry.**

 **Anyway, on with the story. Thanks to all of you who have commented, reviewed, favourited, subscribed and all that jazz.**

 **Please R &R/comment if you want.**

 **T.C**

 **~oOo~**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Wake Me Up**

I watched as a Quinjet went down, and knew that it wouldn't be too long before Steve was going to turn up here. It wasn't a long drive or walk, and the quicker he got rid of his suit, the sooner he could disappear.

So here I was, rifling through the lockers, trying to find something that would fit Steve, but it also had to be something that wouldn't stand out. I could buy a baseball cap and some fake glasses from somewhere else, but for the moment, he had to make do with what I could find. He also almost gave me a heart attack when he suddenly appeared behind me. For somebody that big and bulky, you'd expect him to make some kind of noise. Maybe I should get him a bell to wear round his neck.

"Strip, and put these on." I told him, throwing him a t-shirt, hoodie and trousers that I thought might be his size, while I went hunting through some other lockers to find him some shoes, "The faster you get changed, the faster we get out of here."

Steve changed with little complaint, until he got to putting on the shoes. "They're too big."

"Does that matter?" I asked him, closing the locker with the backpack that I'd stuffed his Captain America suit into, "You can change them later, but right now, we need to get moving. They'll have started to look for you, and your suit has a tracker in it, remember? The longer we stay here, the more chance we have of being caught. We can't solve the puzzle if we're in prison or dead."

In less than two minutes, we were out of the gym, and making our way towards the hospital. Now that we were outside, and had no tracking devices on us, it was easier to blend into the crowd of people on the streets. Being Captain America, and having a museum wing of your life on display, you might expect him to stick out like a sore thumb, but nobody seemed to recognize him. He was just another person on the street.

 **~oOo~**

By the time we made it to the hospital, I was sure that S.H.I.E.L.D. would've found the suit in the backpack, and would now be regrouping at base. They'd be getting as many data points as they could to try and find him - photos, traffic cameras, security tapes. Anything that could help them locate him. And there was no way that we would be able to get out of the city without being spotted or caught if we used public transport.

We walked through the halls, hoods up, hands in pockets, and past the hospital staff, all the way to where we had been only hours before, when Steve stopped in front of a vending machine. This one must have been important, because we'd passed a few on our way here, and he hadn't even looked twice at them.

Compartment five hundred and ten was empty. Steve looked worried about that, and then he saw Natasha reflected in the glass behind him. She was chewing gum, and had an innocent look on her face, but Steve looked like he was pissed off with her. He turned round, looked at her for a second, and then pushed her into an empty room; pulling his hood down, and pushing her up against the wall.

"Where is it?"

"Safe."

"Do better."

"Where did you get it?"

"Why would I tell you?"

Natasha seemed to put all the pieces together, while I was still very confused, and trying to figure out what was going on. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I was following their short sentences like a tennis match. What was so important that these two friends were arguing about it?

"Fury gave it to you. Why?"

"What's on it?"

"I don't know."

Steve seemed to be getting fed up with her. "Stop lying."

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers."

There was a noise outside the room, and both Steve and I looked. The last thing we needed was to get caught, or somebody report us to security. If Steve and Natasha had something, or knew something, then it would be a bad idea to let them get caught, especially if she had something that Fury didn't want in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I bet you know Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"

The Black Widow thought about that for a couple of seconds before she answered. "Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you."

"I'm not gonna ask you again." Steve pushed her against the wall again.

"I know who killed Fury." The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds, with Steve looking almost shocked at the revelation, "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. Some say there's another one as well, a female who goes by Phantom. They're credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

There was something in the back of my head that told me I'd heard those names before, but I didn't know where or how I would have heard them. I wasn't part of the intelligence community, and I doubt Pierce would have said or given me anything that would have mentioned them, that is, if he even knew anything about them. Maybe I'd just over heard somebody talking about it.

"So they're a ghost story?" I asked.

"Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him, straight through me." She pulled her shirt up, showing off the raised scar on her stomach, "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikini's. He's the only one I saw though. The story about the Phantom could just be that, a story."

And then it was like I was there. I could feel the heat. I could see the car coming towards me through the scope of a rifle, and hear the shot before the vehicle plunged down the cliff. Then hearing a second shot before everything went quiet; a plume of smoke billowing up from below. The metal armed soldier from my nightmares coming up to me, and holding out his hand for me to take, like we'd done it a thousand times before, and my hand reaching up to grab it…

"Diana?" A hand touched my shoulder, and I almost jumped out of my skin as I tried to figure out who it was, "It's alright. It's just me and Natasha. We're in the hospital, remember?"

"Sorry." I said, taking a deep breath, and trying to slow my heartbeat, "I don't know what happened. Must have just zoned out."

"You did blank out for a few seconds. We're going to go find the ghosts, and see what they want. Are you coming?"

 **~oOo~**

I knew that Pierce would have a meeting with the World Security Council, and they would move to immediately reactivate Project Insight, seeming as Fury wanted to delay it, and they now thought him a traitor. They'd also most likely put Pierce in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well.

We made our way to the mall, trying to avoid any and all cameras in the area, and trying not to get caught by anybody taking a photo or video. Anything that went through public channels – like social media – could end up getting us caught, and have S.H.I.E.L.D. or STRIKE personnel after us in under five minutes.

"First rule of going on the run is don't run, walk." Natasha told us as we walked past the fountain, and all the people wandering around. Steve was looking around at everybody, while Natasha and I just kept on looking forward.

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." We swapped his clothes for one of the hospital staffs, and stolen a baseball cap and fake glasses to help disguise his face. We'd even had time to swing by my place for a quick change into something that wouldn't stand out, because who would believe that I was helping Captain America, when I wasn't even in the building when he escaped.

And the best way to use a computer – when you're on the run, and in desperate need of one – is to go to a public library, or a computer store… But if you're on the run, go for the one with the most people. It's easier to blend in with everybody, and there's too many faces for somebody to pick out one specific face. It would even take a computer, even a sophisticated one like S.H.I.E.L.D.'s, a few minutes, at least, to get an accurate reading.

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up, S.H.I.E.L.D. will know exactly where we are." Natasha informed us, while I typed away on the keyboard. We'd decided that I would type, while Steve and Nat kept their eyes open for anybody making their way over to us.

"How much time will we have?"

"About nine minutes from now." I said, plugging in the memory stick, and beginning to hack into the secure files; almost feeling the agents after us leave the Triskelion, "Fury was right about the ship. Somebody's trying to hide something. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."

Steve leaned over my shoulder to look at the screen. "Can you override it?"

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly." I knew that our time was running out, and I had to work faster if we were going to get the information before we got caught, "I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that S.H.I.E.L.D. developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from." More files popped up on the screen, including a map of North America, with three points around an area on the East coast. Just had to let it triangulate now.

That's when one of the assistants came over. He had long hair and a beard, and just seemed too happy given the time, and what had happened, and was happening, to us. "Can I help you guys with anything?"

"Oh, no. My sister and her fiancée were just helping me." Natasha put on a voice that was nothing like her own, "They're just looking at some honeymoon destinations now."

"Right. We're getting married." Steve put his arm round my shoulders, while I willed the computer to work faster. We didn't have time for it to be this slow.

"Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking of going?"

The computer made a little noise to let me know that it was done, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I continued to type for more information. "New Jersey."

A little noise came from the assistant, before he took a closer look at Steve. For one horrifying moment, I thought that we had been caught, when he commented about how he had the exact same glasses, which led to a little banter. He told us his name, before wandering off to see if anybody else needed any help.

By now, I knew that agents had to be close by, and having Steve and Natasha breathing down my neck, did not help with my productivity. It was just distracting and scary, and I could only work as fast as the computer would allow. Natasha told him to relax, but I could tell she was getting anxious, until she saw that I had cracked it. _WHEATON, NJ_ , is what the computer said.

"You know it?" I asked.

"I used to. Let's go." And he pulled out the memory stick, before we left the store as quickly as we could without drawing attention to ourselves, and going out into the hustle and bustle of the day, "Standard tac-team. Two behind, two across, and two coming straight at us." I recognized them as members of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team, "If they make us, I'll engage, you two hit the south escalator to the metro."

"Shut up and put your arms around us. Laugh at something we said."

"What?"

"Do it."

Steve did as he was told, and we both turned our heads to Natasha, and laughed. The agents just walked past us, and didn't even give us a second glance. I knew that they would send somebody to the shop we'd been in, and when they found out we weren't there, they'd have people on every floor looking for us. They might even try to get the CCTV of us in the shop.

I spotted Rumlow before he got on the escalator, and I told Steve and Nat to go on without me. If I could distract the head of S.T.R.I.K.E., maybe I could give them a little more time to escape, or at least give them a head start, if nothing else. And bumping into him just after he stepped off, was one of the easiest things to do. He wasn't even paying attention to what was going on in front of him, because he was too busy looking behind himself.

"I'm so sorry, Brock. I didn't see you there." I apologized, picking myself up off the floor, "Wait, why are you here? I thought you were working all day. Something about collecting evidence from the building opposite Steve's. That is where the shooter was, right?"

"Haven't you heard?" I shook my head, before a dawning realization spread across his face, "Of course. Pierce sent you home early… Captain Rogers is a fugitive of S.H.I.E.L.D. He has information regarding the death of Director Fury, and escaped capture when we cornered him. We tracked him here. You haven't seen him, have you?"

"What?" I could play the innocent card, and pretend to know nothing, "No, I haven't seen him. I was just looking around the shops for a dress I could wear to Nick's funeral. Maybe even order some flowers or something. Help out Agent Hill a bit, you know? Take a little of the weight from her shoulders."

Rumlow looked at me for a few seconds, almost like he was deciding what to do with me… Or he was listening to somebody talking over the comms, and I was just being paranoid. He did bring his arm up to his mouth and start speaking, which just confirmed the theory that he had been listening to one of his team members.

"No sign of Rogers. Found Miss Flynn though…" There was a pause as he listened to the reply, "Of course, sir. I'll escort her myself." He dropped his arm, "I've been told to bring you to the Triskelion. You are to be placed into protective custody until further notice."

And then I let him lead me outside, towards the SUV's that they'd arrived in. It was strange, how they'd just suddenly left, and how I was being taken to S.H.I.E.L.D. to be kept safe. Was it because they thought he'd come after me because I looked like his dead friend? Or was it because I'd become friends with him over the past couple of days? Or was it none of those things?

There was something playing in the background as we drove away. It wasn't music, more like somebody talking, but it wasn't in English. Whatever it was, I could understand it, and it was making my hands clench the further it went and my heart start to beat faster. And then three words.

" _Good morning, Phantom."_

" _Ready to comply._ "

 **~oOo~**

They led me form the car to the bank vault, which is where one of my handlers would give me instructions on what I was suppose to do. Over the years, both the Soldier and I had had many different handlers. Old ones left, and new ones came, and sometimes we had the came one, only they'd look older then the other time we'd seen them.

But I was finally reunited with my Soldier. He hadn't been wiped or given a mission with me for months, and then they put us together again to kill a high priority target. Somebody who was a threat to us, just like the others we'd killed, and it had been another successful mission.

" _Phantom._ " I stood to attention as my name was called, " _Do you know where Captain America has gone? Is he getting help from anyone else?_ "

" _He has gone to Camp Leigh in New Jersey. He is travelling with the Black Widow._ "

My handler seemed to take that in for a couple of seconds, before he handed me a file. " _Your objective. The Soldier and yourself are to wait for him. He shall give you more instructions upon your arrival, and then you are to return here. Is that understood?_ "

I gave him a nod, before walking off to meet with the Soldier, where we would then get ready for the mission. You could never be too prepared, because you never knew when something unexpected might happen. Above all else, the head of HYDRA must be protected, and you never know when his life would be in danger.

 **~oOo~**

Breaking in was easy. The security system had been disabled, and the housekeeper wasn't very observant. Even with most of the house in darkness, she wasn't very aware of her surroundings, and that was a very dangerous thing. She should e killed for it, as anybody could walk in and off another head of our leadership.

The Soldier put one of his many guns on the table, and we waited in almost complete darkness; the only light coming from the moon as it shone through the window, and the light from outside the room. But even with that, we were nearly completely in the shadows, just sitting at the table and waiting for our orders.

Pierce walked through his brightly lit hallway, and into the kitchen. He opened the fridge, pulling out a carton of milk and putting it on the counter, before he spotted us. He closed the fridge door, not taking his eyes off of us. Even being one of our handlers, it could be a bit daunting to see two highly trained assassins sitting at your kitchen table.

"I'm going to go, Mr. Pierce." The voice of the housekeeper cut through the silence, making all of us look to the entrance of the kitchen, "You need anything before I leave?"

"No… Uh, it's fine, Renata, you can go home." The three of us could tell that she was just round the corner, and we didn't want her coming in.

"Okay. Night-night."

"Good night." He went back to staring at us until we heard the door close, and then he started moving, "Want some milk?" And he opened one of the cupboards next to the fridge, getting what he needed, before pouring himself a glass, "The timetable has moved. Our window is limited. Two targets, Level Six." He came over, and sat down in front of us, "They already cost me Zola. I want confirmed death in ten hours."

None of us heard the door open or close again, but soon Renata, the housekeeper, was walking round the corner, and putting the three of us directly in he eyeliner. "Sorry, Mr. Pierce, I…" Her brain had finally processed the information it was seeing, "I g=forgot my phone."

The Soldier and I glared at her, and we could see the fear on her face when she realized what she'd walked in on, before she looked to Pierce, as if she was looking for answers. But all he did, was screw his face up as he looked round at her.

"Oh, Renata, I wish you would have knocked." And he grabbed the gun from the table, and fired twice, right into Renata's chest, as she screamed and tried to run away, only to fall backwards to the ground. Dead.


	6. Starless Eyes Remain

**Hey guys and gals. Welcome to the second longest chapter of this story. I added something in this morning which upped the total word count up by 22 words, which wasn't enough to take the top spot (which is over 9,000 words) but enough to keep it solidly at 2nd place. This chapter does more reveal what's going on, so it might be more obvious now, but again, be respectful for those who only have inklings as to what's going on, and PM me if you want to discuss.**

 **Anyway, that's really enough from me. I'll let you get on with the chapter, cause you don't really want to read my rambling Author Notes.**

 **Thanks to all of you who have commented, reviewed, favourited and all that jazz. It means so much to me.**

 **Please R &R/comment if you want.**

 **T.C**

 **PS. I started writing a Daredevil/Avengers fic. I'm so excited about it. It's only gonna be about 5 chapters, but as soon as I got the idea, I couldn't get it out of my head. No superheroes - so no Battle of New York or anything - but Loki and Thor are still from Asgard, Steve and Bucky from the 40's, no Winter Soldier - cause I need Howard for the idea to work - and Natasha was still trained in the Red Room, but everything is peaceful. Don't know what I'll do for Hulk, but perhaps Banner wasn't effected by the Gamma Radiation. I have time to think about that one. Tony still gets kidnapped, but he is saved, he doesn't create the Iron Man suit, and Stane is arrested. S.H.I.E.L.D. is a spy** **organisation, no HYDRA. I think that's all, but I'm not giving away plot points. That will be a surprise.**

 **~oOo~**

 **Chapter 6**

 **Starless Eyes Remain**

I woke up with another headache, but this time, it was just a small ebbing feeling. It was nothing like the one I'd woken up with on the day of Fury's death. With this one, I could probably get away with just drinking some water, and laying down for a little longer.

So I got out of bed, walked into the living room, turned on the TV to watch the news before heading back to bed, and got myself a glass of water, the same as I did every morning - apart from going back to bed. Only today was completely different, and it started with the headlines the anchor was reading out.

"… Late last night, an explosion rocked the surrounding town of Wheaton, New Jersey. People as far as three miles away said they could feel the aftershocks, and thought it must have been an earthquake." The anchor said, as pictures and videos of the explosion and ensuing fire littered the screen, "Reports say that the explosion happened at an abandoned army base in the area, Camp Leigh, and was caused by some old, World War Two ammunitions that triggered the rest of the weapons…"

 _Camp Leigh?_ I felt the glass fall from my hand and smash on the floor, _that's where Steve and Natasha were going. Were they okay? Had they made it out okay, or were they trapped in the rubble? Was this S.H.I.E.L.D.'s doing? Was it really some old weapons that exploded?_

Given what had happened over the last couple of days, I was going to say that this wasn't an accident. This had been a planned attack, and the targets had been Steve and Natasha. Somebody wanted to get rid of them, but who and why? And who would be a person they could now trust, if they thought I'd been compromised?

 **~oOo~**

Running to Sam's would have been easy, had I not had to avoid all the cameras on the way there, and been in skinny jeans and converse, with my braided hair hitting me in the face as I ran. Not one of my best ideas, but cabs keep records of where people are picked up and dropped off, and I didn't want to run the risk of being followed. Sam might have been my friend, but that wouldn't stop S.H.I.E.L.D. from figuring out what might be going on.

Once I got to his place, I knocked twice on the wood and once on the glass. It was what we'd come up with at one of my counseling sessions before we became friends, and I was the only person who used it. It was a useful thing at times like this. He wasn't going to be opening the door to somebody he didn't know, which was a good thing, especially if you were harboring two criminals.

"Sorry I missed our morning run, I overslept. Mind if I join you for breakfast? Thanks." I pushed past Sam when he opened the door, despite his small protests, and going straight to the door of his bedroom, "You guys look like shit."

Steve and Natasha sat in Sam's bed, cleaning themselves of dirt and dust. They both cracked a smile at my humor, but they didn't say anything. Mind you, had I almost been blown up, I would probably be very freaked out, and not holding up as well as the two of them were.

"You weren't followed, were you?" Natasha asked.

"No. I even doubled back on myself a few times." I told her, feeling quite proud of myself, "I don't think they'd be worried about me coming to Sam's though. They thought I might need some therapy after my accident, so they pointed me in his direction, and we became friends almost instantly. There's nothing unusual about going to see a friend."

That's when Sam came in and told us about breakfast being ready - 'if you guys eat that sort of thing' - before we moved into his small kitchen, which also happened to be attached to his living room. His place was only just a bit bigger then my own, but if you're living on your own, you don't need a huge place.

"So, the question is, who at S.H.I.E.L.D. could launch a domestic missile strike?" Natasha was leaning against one of the counters, while Sam was busy plating something up, and Steve and I sat at the table.

None of us said anything for a few seconds, before Steve answered. "Pierce."

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." I told them, taking the bacon sandwich from Sam.

"But he's not working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." A small flash of a person sneering down at me popped into my head, but it was gone as soon as it came.

"So was Jasper Sitwell."

A look of realization hit Steve when Natasha mentioned this, almost like he'd forgotten that, or he hadn't known it to begin with. "So, the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?"

"The answer is, you don't." Sam walked over with a file, and put it on the table.

"What's this?"

"Call is a resume."

The two Avengers took the file. Steve looked at it with interest, but Natasha looked like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Most of what Sam did was classified, and only people he trusted were allowed to know what happened.

"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you?" Sam just looked at her, before she handed the photo to Steve, "You didn't say he was a Pararescue."

"Is this Riley?"

"Yeah."

"I heard they couldn't bring in choppers because of the RPG's. What did you use? A stealth chute?" Natasha asked, looking up from the photo.

Sam handed another file over to Steve. "No. These." And then he stepped back, and folded his arms.

Steve opened the file, and started to read through it. "I thought you said you were a pilot."

"I never said pilot." Sam smiled, almost finding it funny that Steve thought he was a pilot, when he'd only said his unit and Pararescue.

"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You left for a good reason." Steve shook his head, "And Diana, you're not a soldier. If you get hurt, or you get caught in the crossfire, I'm going to feel awful. You don't have to try and be like Regina."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." Sam told him, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I just gave Steve a stern look before I spoke. "I'm not trying to be like her. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't suspect me of working with you guys, so I can be your inside man. And who better to have on your side, then the Personal Assistant of Alexander Pierce? The new head of S.H.I.E.L.D.. If he calls though, I need to go. Can't help you guys from inside if I'm on a 'Most Wanted' poster."

There was silence for a few seconds, none of us wanting to talk, as we waited for Steve to make his decision. When he made it, he cave a small nod, and took a deep breath, as if he was choosing his next words very carefully.

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?"

"The last one is at Fort Meade. Behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch Steel wall." I know all about where they were kept because I'd seen the file hidden in Sam's place the previous month, and got curious about the EXO-7 FALCON mission.

Natasha and Steve just looked at each other, like they were having a silent conversation, before they both shrugged, and Steve said, "Shouldn't be a problem." And threw the file on the table.

 **~oOo~**

After stealing one of the Falcon suits, I was able to find out exactly where Sitwell was going to be… And it was a fancy restaurant in D.C., with Senator Stern, who always gave me the creeps. He'd had a few meetings with Pierce since I started working there, and he always looked at me like I was a piece of meat. Always getting closer then he had to, and then saying I could do nothing about it.

Thankfully, we weren't here for Stern, and hopefully he wouldn't see me. We had a plan to get the security away from Sitwell, and all we had to do, was wait for the Senator to leave. No matter how big a slime ball the guy was, he wasn't the one we were after.

Sam and I watched from across the courtyard as Stern and Sitwell hugged, and started to part ways, only for the Senator to stop after one step, and rub his leg.

"See, it's right there…"

"Yeah, I just saw that."

"Should I get it checked out?"

"I think you should."

And that's when we chose to act. Half the security had gone off with Stern, leaving only a couple of men with Sitwell, and because I was so good at my job, I had been able to add a number to his phone without even touching it. As soon as his phone started ringing, and he pulled it out to see Alexander Pierce ringing, he would probably send his security lot off to bring the car around… And I was right.

" _Yes, sir?_ " He said as soon as he picked up.

"Agent Sitwell, how was lunch? I hear the crab cakes here are delicious."

" _Who is this?_ "

"The good-looking couple in the sunglasses, your ten o'clock." Sitwell looked at the cars parked across the road, and the people milling around, "Your other ten o'clock." He then looked straight over at the two of us, and we raised our drinks at him, "There you go."

Sitwell didn't move a muscle after he spotted us, just kept keeping his eyes trained on us. " _What do you want?_ "

"You're gonna go around the corner to your right. There's a grey car two spaces down. We're gonna take a ride."

" _And why would I do that?_ "

"Because that tie looks really expensive, and I'd hate to mess it up."

The agent in question looked down to see the red dot on his tie, just as my phone pinged with a message from Pierce, saying he wanted me in the office as soon as possible, and that Rumlow was on his way to pick me up. I showed the message to Sam, and he nodded for me to go, giving me a look that said he'd tell Steve and Natasha.

That's when I took off running. I had to get back to my place before Rumlow arrived to take me to work. And if he asked me why I was out of breath, then I could just lie about having to run back from the shops. If I could get to my place and sit on the stairs outside for a couple of minutes, then it might not be as noticeable. Fingers crossed that no questions were going to be asked.

Thankfully, no questions were asked, but I also noticed that we weren't heading in the direction of the Triskelion, and just as I was about to ask why, Rumlow pressed the on button for the stereo, and somebody started speaking. _Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One. Freight car._

All of them were innocuous words, but they did something to me. It was like I wasn't in control of my own body anymore, and it was frightening. And soon, I couldn't even remember Diana. All I knew, was that I had a mission to complete, and my handler was expecting me to complete it as soon as possible.

 **~oOo~**

Waiting was always the hardest part of any mission. I was waiting in place on the Highway, and the Soldier was just waiting in the wings… Or rather, in the car until he was needed. Everything had been planned to a T, and we weren't going to let this be the first mission we failed.

I heard somebody scream, and I knew it was Sitwell. As soon as we knew that he'd betrayed us by talking, he was added to our list of targets. When I heard it though, I knew it was my cue to start walking up the middle lane of the highway. Cars blasted their horns and swerved out of the way, but I kept walking calmly towards the target vehicle.

With the brakes screeching, the car came to a sudden stop. My Soldier was thrown forward; his metal arm hitting the road first, before he twisted, and used it to help him come to a complete stop right next to me. The targets in the car looked on, shocked, as the Soldier pulled his fingers from the grooves he'd made on the road, before standing up to stare at the stopped car.

We just stood silently, not moving. We could see the car with our 'back-up' driving towards the targets, and just as the red head got ready to shoot at us, they were hit from behind; pushing it towards us, even while the driver tried to get away.

And just before the target vehicle would've hit us, we jumped on the car – the Soldier slamming into the roof, and me on the bonnet. I could've smirked behind my mask and goggles, but seeing their faces made something flicker in my head. They looked familiar, but I didn't know why.

"Shit!" The driver screamed, as he Soldier ripped the steering wheel from the car, and I shook my head. This was not the time to get distracted by things that didn't matter. I had a mission that I needed to complete, and that was to kill the two Level Six targets.

That's when I joined the Soldier on the roof of the car, and it was only seconds before bullets started coming through the roof. The both of us jumped off, landing on the bonnet of the SUV behind us. I maneuvered my way onto the roof, while the Soldier remained where he was; only moving to be in a better position.

The target vehicle swerved into another lane, but we just followed it; hitting the back, and causing it to skid into the barrier, and bounce back into the road. And with no means of steering, there was no way to correct what was happening.

Just as the car flipped into the air, the passenger side door fell away from it, with the three people from inside, huddled together… Protecting themselves from what they knew was coming. And they hit the road only seconds before their car did. It tumbled around, while their momentum let them slide on the door, until one of them tumbled away before they came to a complete stop.

Both of us jumped from the SUV, the Soldier being handed the M4A1 with a grenade launcher attached to it. He aimed and fired; the red head being pushed out of the way before the blonde held up his shield, and was blasted back into a stopped car, and then over the edge of the bridge. We heard a crash, so we knew that he hit something else, and it was most likely the passing bus, given that a horn blared out before two big vehicles collided with each other, and the multiple people screaming.

Bullets started being fired by our back-up, while the Soldier and I casually walked; our guns held in a relaxed hold, ready to be brought up at a seconds notice. The other target hid behind an abandoned car, before she started shooting at us, her position being a perfect shield against the wave of artillery fire.

Having had enough of all the bullets flying everywhere and achieving nothing, the Soldier raised his gun, and fired another grenade at the car the red head was hiding behind… Only for her to leap over the barrier, and avoid all the other vehicles that could have hit her. He took greater care in aiming before he fired the third grenade, where she just jumped over the edge of the bridge; the car that went over with her, exploding when it hit the ground.

One of the men on the bridge with us swapped his gun with the Soldiers, and we were ready to continue our assault. We knew our targets weren't dead, and if we couldn't kill them here, then HYDRA had a back-up team that would do it for us, so we stood waiting for the red head to make her appearance again, but when she didn't, we turned our attention to the overturned bus… Only to hear four separate gun shots, and the slight cracking of the glass, which sent us stumbling back. The glass in our goggles had been cracked by the bullets, so we just ripped them off, and we felt incredibly angry.

We stood up from where we'd taken cover after the shots had hit us, and fired down at where our assailant had been just a few seconds before. Only she wasn't there anymore. She had taken cover behind a larger vehicle, where she continued to fire at us. I tried firing back at her while the Soldier reloaded, but I couldn't get a direct shot at her.

She then started running, keeping low behind the parked cars, and catching up to the scared bystanders who were also running away. We didn't care if we hit one of the civilians, but she could blend in with them, which would just make it harder to find her.

" _We have her. Find him._ " Was all we said, before we jumped over the side of the bridge; the roof of the car being dented and the windows smashing as the Soldier landed, before he stepped off for me to land only a couple of seconds later.

The sound of gunfire followed us as we calmly made our way towards where the red head had disappeared, and blowing up a car as it came round the corner. People screamed around us, while the Soldier put another miniature explosive in his gun. They were running from their cars, not daring to get any closer then they had to, and that was a very smart move.

And then we heard something. Some indistinct radio chatter, and it made us stop dead in our tracks. Even with all the people screaming around us, we knew it couldn't be the police, so it had to be our red headed target calling for back up.

Without saying a word, I reached into my pack, let one of the miniature grenades drop into my hand, and rolled it towards where the voice was coming from. I didn't get up from my position on the ground as I waited for something to happen - either our target running away, or the scream as the explosion occurred… But neither of those things happened. It confused the both of us for a couple of seconds, until we heard the running footsteps behind us.

Before either of us were able to do anything, our target jumped over the bonnet of the silver car behind us, and kicked the gun out of my Soldier's hands, before she wrapped her arms and legs around him; attempting to strangle him with her garrote.

It didn't last long though. After only a few seconds, the Soldier had walked backwards towards the silver car – making the red head lose her balance – before he grabbed her elbow, and threw her into one of the car opposite of us.

I was just getting up from the ground, while the Soldier picked up his gun from where it had landed after being kicked away, before he aimed it towards the red head who'd just been on his back. But before he could take the shot, she threw something at him, and it attached itself to his metal arm; sending an electrical pulse through it, before she turned and ran.

Where the device had landed, it left a blackened, circular burn mark on the metal. The Soldier was quick to pull it off, clenching his hand and spun his arm round; the metal plates shifting to compensate for the damage that had been caused as we walked off, even angrier then we had been before.

"Get out of the way! Stay out of the way!" The red head was shouting as she ran, only looking to where she'd run from, and not behind her. She didn't even see me with a rifle, and didn't even know I was there until she was hit with the bullet.

She screamed out in pain, falling forward with the force, and looking around to see where it had come from, but I'd moved. I'd left her in the perfect place for the Soldier to finish off the job, and while she was looking in the direction of where the shot came from, she didn't see the Soldier coming up behind her until it was too late.

But just as the Soldier cocked his gun, our blond haired target came running out of nowhere; his shield on his arm. I couldn't get a clear shot from where I was, so I looped the strap roundly body, and took off running towards them.

The sound that came from the Soldiers arm hitting the shield was loud, and it seemed to echo all around us, but I didn't stop running. The blond was now our primary target, and I knew that without medical attention, the red head would bleed out, so she wasn't our priority for the time being.

Both the Soldier and I knew that this was going to be a fight to the death… We both knew that we had a time limit in which to accomplish our mission. If we didn't complete it by the time the police or our back-up arrived, then we would have failed our mission, and that would result in our punishment. So the Soldier kicked the blond off of the car, causing him to fall backwards onto the roof, and the blond to his the road, and within seconds, the Soldier was sat up, and shooting at our target, only for that attempt to be blocked by the blonds shield.

Without wasting anymore time – especially when his gun ran out of bullets – the Soldier rolled off of the car, and pulled out another of the many guns at our disposal. But while the Soldier had done this, our blond target had also moved from his position, and was continuing to shield himself from the onslaught of bullets being fired at him, as he made his way round the opposite side of the car.

All too soon, the bullets in the machine gun ran out as well, and that was when our target decided to jump over the car, and kick the gun right out of the Soldiers hand, only to have another gun pulled out on him. I hated the fact that I'd picked a spot so far away from the field, because it meant that it took time to get back, and meant that I wasn't there to help bring down our target.

Our target then decided to punch my Soldier in the face, and then attempted to hit him with his shield, but the Soldier caught it before giving a solid punch to the gut and another to the face; twisting the shield from the blonds arm, and using it against him, and punching him to the floor.

He held the shield like he'd done it before, but his mask covered face was glaring at our target, as if he was saying 'come fight me. I dare you.' And so our target did, charging at the Soldier without a seconds hesitation, much to the annoyance of my partner in crime. So he threw the shield like a Frisbee, with as much force as he could, in his attempt to hit the target. He only just missed, and the shield ended up being lodged in the back door of one of the parked vans that had been abandoned when the firefight started.

So while the Soldier continued fighting our blond target with one of our combat knives, I got ready to finally join the fight. While only seconds had passed since they had started to engage in the fighting, it felt like I'd been running for hours and getting nowhere. But it really made my blood boil though, when our target kicked my Soldier in the chest, and sent him flying back into one of the many abandoned cars around our battlefield. He was able to deliver another blow to the chest before I slammed into his side, sending us both to the ground, but it gave the Soldier a little time to recover from the blows before he had to join the fight again.

We both made it to our feet again, where I was able to deliver a couple of solid punches before he used my momentum to flip me to the floor. It only took me a second to get back onto my feet and gripping his throat. While I might not have the metal arm of the Soldier, I was still pretty strong, and could hold my own in a fight. I wanted to laugh at the look in his eyes when I pulled him closer to me, just before throwing backwards over the bonnet of the car to where the Soldier was waiting for him.

However the target was just able to roll out of the way before the metal arm of the Soldier cracked the road where his head had been only seconds before. I also think that it was at this point our target realized that it was 'kill or be killed.' That we weren't trying to capture them, but that we were out to kill them, and we weren't going to stop until we had completed our task.

The Soldier gave another few solid hits to our target before pushing him into the side of a van. I pulled out one of my knives, kicked the target back towards the van, and brought the knife down next to his head; dragging it along the side as I tried my hardest to get closer and injure him. I would have hit his head had he not moved it just before the knife imbedded itself into the metal of the van.

And then he used my momentum against me. He ducked when we got to the end of the van, grabbed me round the waist, and threw me over his head; hitting the hard ground with enough force to knock the air out of my lungs, while he was able to get up with no problems, and grab his shield from the van it was still lodged in.

While I got my breath and baring back, the Soldier took over again; standing protectively by my side for a couple of seconds, before going after our target with his one remaining knife. Our target kept blocking the attacks with his shield, and the Soldier even dropped his weapon from one hand to the other in the hopes of actually doing some damage, and then punched and kicked at him, before our target put his shield into the Soldiers metal arm. It was also at this point that I decided our time was up. This would be our first failed mission, and there was nothing we could do about it.

I hauled myself up off the floor just as the blond target threw the Soldier over his shoulder, sending him tumbling through the air before he landed on the ground; his mask falling off during the roll just seconds before he got to his feet. My mask had stayed securely in place, but we'd been told that we weren't allowed to remove our masks under any condition, but it hadn't always been like that. With most missions we were allowed to not wear them, but it was never an option with this one. We had to wear them, and we weren't allowed to question why.

But oh how easy it would be to terminate our target as he stood looking at the back of the Soldier. And then his posture changed as soon as he saw the stubbled face of the previously masked assassin. It was almost like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Like he was seeing a ghost.

"Bucky?" He asked, and that made me stop in my tracks of bringing my gun up. Did our target know who we were? Did he know who we _really_ were, and not who we'd been programmed to be. Who we'd been told we were.

"Who the hell is Bucky?" The Soldier countered, bringing up his gun to point at the blond, just before somebody else flew at him – literally, he had wings – and kicked him to the ground. I ignored both of the other people, and ran right to my Soldiers side. The other team was close by. They could deal with the targets. What mattered to me, was that my Soldier was alright.

He stood by a red car, contemplating what to do next, before he brought his gun up again. The Soldier wanted to finish the mission, even though we both knew that we'd failed. We wouldn't have, if the man with the wings had arrived a few seconds later. We failed at the last minute, because he hadn't been deemed a threat by our handler.

That's when we left though, because the injured red head had grabbed one of our discarded guns, and shot a miniaturized grenade at the red pick-up we'd been standing next to. It was a blessing though, because it gave us the perfect distraction to get way, just in time for our back-up to arrive.


	7. Famous Living Dead

**Hey guys and gals. Here's the second 3rd person chapter of the story. Only one other after this, and that's chapter 9, and that's a really long chapter at over 9,000 words.**

 **I picked up I, Tonya yesterday, and Deadpool 2, but I haven't watched them yet cause my anxiety started playing up and I ended up making myself ill. I was able to get my hair cut though (this was before I went to pick up the DVD's) and I got it based off of Seb's in TWS. I'm slowly getting the dye cut out so that I can grow it out, and then when it gets to a certain length, I'm gonna have it cut off and donate it to** **charity to make wigs for people with cancer and stuff.**

 **Anyway, that's enough from me. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed, commented, favourited, subscribed and all that jazz.**

 **Please R &R/comment if you want.**

 **T.C**

 **~oOo~**

 **Chapter 7**

 **Famous Living Dead**

Everything seemed to stop for Steve. One minute, he was fighting the two masked assassins, knowing that he was fighting for his life… And the next, he was staring at the face of his best friend. His best friend who had fallen from a speeding train with his fiancée at the end of nineteen forty-four. He didn't even seem to notice the cars and sirens coming from all directions, until Brock Rumlow started shouting instructions at him; the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents gun drawn, along with the other members of the STRIKE team.

"Drop the shield, Cap! Get on your knees! Get on your knees!" Steve did as he was told, even put his hands in the air, "Get down, get down! Get on your knees!" Brock kicked the back of his knees to get him on the ground faster, "Down!"

Masked soldiers came from all directions with their guns raised at the three fugitives, all of whom had surrendered to the agents. But one of the STRIKE team members had a small grudge against the Captain, especially after what had happened in the elevator only a couple of days previously. His gun grazed against the back of Steve's head as Rumlow handcuffed him.

"Put the gun down." Rumlow ordered, noticing the news helicopters hovering above them, "Not here. Not here!" He told him, and it took a couple of seconds for his agent to actually listened to his instructions, but it didn't stop any of the others from pointing their guns at Steve, Sam and Natasha as they took all three of them, and placed them in the back of the black, windowless van.

But Steve remained in his state of shock while Rumlow had cuffed him, and hauled him towards the transport vehicle. He even kept quiet for some of the journey whole he was trying to figure out everything he'd found out in his head. About how the Winter Soldier was his best friend, and how he'd turned into a killer. Was it possible that the Winter Phantom was Regina?

"It was him." He finally said, not looking up from the floor, "He looked right at me, like he didn't even know me."

"How is that even possible? It was, like, seventy years ago."

"Zola." Steve told Sam, "Bucky's whole unit was captured in forty-three. Zola experimented on him. He experimented on Beth too, only for a lot longer. She was captured several months before, and they were trying to get her to talk. So they tortured and experimented on her, but she never said a word. What ever he did helped Bucky survive the fall, and possibly helped Beth too. They must have found them."

"None of that's your fault, Steve." Natasha commented, her voice trailing off as she steadily got weaker from the loss of blood.

However Steve wasn't listening to what she was saying. He was too busy thinking about how it was his fault. "Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky. And then later, I had Beth standing by our sides."

Sam looked over to Natasha, and noticed that blood was starting to seep through her jacket from the hole made by the bullet as it exited her body. Natasha was trying to keep up the calm front, but Sam could tell that the wound was really starting to affect her.

"We need to get a doctor here." Sam looked to one of the two masked agents in the back with them, and then to Natasha, before turning his attention back to the agents, "If we don't put pressure on that wound, she'd gonna bleed out here in the truck."

The masked agent closest to Sam pulled a Taser baton on him, making him lean away from them, only to have the agent flip the baton in their hand, and Taser the other masked agent beside them; before kicking him in the head, and letting him fall to the floor of the van. The three prisoners looked down at the unconscious body of the agent, and then back up to the other one, who was starting taking off their helmet. It was Agent Maria Hill.

"That thing was squeezing my brain." She said, sweeping a strand of hair from her face, while the others just looked at her in shock, as she looked to Sam, "Who is this guy?"

And by this point, Rumlow and the rest of the STRIKE team had arrived where they wanted to – which was really just a back alley that looked like it had been abandoned for quite a while – and parked in a curved tunnel.

"Three holes. Start digging." Rumlow told his team as they got out of the car and started walking towards the van Steve, Natasha and Sam were being transported in; raising their guns as they prepared to open the door… Only to find it empty, with a smoking hole in the floor and the unconscious agent.

 **~oOo~**

At a secure location, Agent Hill slid the side door of another van open. Steve jumped out first to help support Natasha, who was finally followed by Sam. The four of them walked a small distance to a barred door, which Maria opened, and then continued down the corridor. And then somebody started running towards them.

"GSW. She's lost a least a pint."

"Maybe two."

"Let me take her."

"She'll want to see him first."

Steve and Natasha looked at each other like they were being kept away from some big secret, but they didn't say anything. The former Russian spy just kept pressure on her wound, while Steve kept her from falling over as they were led through the abandoned facility. And they kept on walking until Maria stopped, and pulled back the clear, plastic was, which revealed the bed bound, injured body, of a very alive Nick Fury.

"About damn time." Fury said dryly, as the five of them made their way into the room, and the doctor sat Natasha down so that he could properly tend to her wound, "Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache."

"Don't forget your collapsed lung." The doctor reminded him as he put pressure on the entrance and exit wounds on Natasha's left shoulder.

"Let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good."

Natasha kept her eyes on Fury, not letting him out of her sight for a minute, even as the doctor tried to get her to stop bleeding. "They cut you open. Your heart stopped."

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat per minute." He told them, "Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it."

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asked.

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to be successful." Maria informed them, making it sound like this is something that they had had planned for a very long time. Almost like they were expecting something like this to happen at some point.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead." Or as somebody else has said, 'they never look for you when they think you're dead,' so he could observe from afar, and try to figure out what was going on without anybody looking over his shoulder, "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."

 **~oOo~**

Later on, Fury was out of bed in some new, comfortable clothes, Natasha's wound had stopped bleeding and been stitched back up, and they had all cleaned the dust, dirt and debris off of themselves. Everyone, apart from the doctor, were either standing or sitting round a table, which had become a small Command Centre for the duration of their time.

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize." Fury scoffed, looking at the photo of a younger Alexander Pierce, "He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility." He put the photo on the table, "See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch."

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore." Fury opened the briefcase beside him, revealing three computer chips. They were too big for a laptop, but most definitely big enough for whatever Fury was planning.

"What's that?" Sam stepped closer to have a better look inside. Being the newest member of the team, meant he had a lot of catching up to do.

This is where Maria took over. As she was still working at S.H.I.E.L.D., and wasn't a fugitive, she had been able to look into Project Insight, and anything else Fury had been working on before his 'death.' She was his right hand woman for many years, so it wouldn't have looked suspicious or strange if she was just tying up loose ends before giving the files over to somebody else, or just closing them entirely.

"Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized." She informed them, turning her laptop around for all of them to see the screen, with information continuing to fill it.

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own." Fury said, motioning to the briefcase.

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are gonna die." Hill was making sure they knew the consequences, should they fail. The price of failure would be a very high cost.

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA." Fury told them, the three of them taking in the information they were being given, "We have to get past them, insert these server blades. And maybe, just maybe we can salvage what's left…"

But Steve interrupted him, stopping Fury dead in his tracks. "We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D.."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this."

"You gave me this mission. This is how it ends." Steve said bluntly, subtly taking over control, "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been compromised. You said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose, and nobody noticed."

Sam stood watching the two of them, his eyes moving from one to the other, like he was watching the ball in a tennis match as it was hit from one side of the court to the other.

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed."

"How many paid the price before you did?"

Fury looked from Maria to Sam and Natasha before he answered. "Look, I didn't know about Barnes, and I had a small inkling when I first saw Miss Flynn. Her resemblance to Lieutenant Larson is uncanny, you must have seen that. But she still passed all the security checks, and seems ignorant to any of the problems that were taking place right under her nose. She even passed the lie detector test, and that shouldn't be possible. If she was hiding something, we'd know about it."

"Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too? S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, it all goes."

"He's right." Maria told him when he looked to her, while Natasha just sat back in her chair, until his gaze finally reached Sam.

"Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower."

The former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. looked down at the table, the look on his face showing that he knew that he was beaten. "Well…" He sat back in the chair before looking at Steve, "It looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."

 **~oOo~**

Sometimes later, after the plan had been discussed and everybody knew what they had to do, Steve stood outside, alone, looking out over at the view of Washington. But he wasn't really there. He was thinking of a memory from the early nineteen thirties. The day of this mothers funeral. He could even hear the church bells ringing in the background.

 **~oOo~**

 _"_ _We looked for you, after. My folks wanted to give you a ride to the cemetery." Bucky was telling him, his hair sleeked back, and wearing his best suit that was reserved for special occasions only, like weddings and funerals._

 _"_ _I know, I'm sorry. I just kind of wanted to be alone." Steve's hands were in his pockets as he climbed the stairs to the apartment which, until recently, he'd shared with his mother. He wasn't dressed as nicely as Bucky, but he also couldn't get a good paying job due to all his health problems. He wasn't big and strong like his best friend, and now he was an orphan. Steve had nobody but Bucky and the Barnes family._

 _"_ _How was it?"_

 _"_ _It was okay. She's next to dad."_

 _They kept walking up the stairs, and then along the balcony towards the door of Steve's apartment. One of his neighbours exited their home and walked down the stairs only seconds after the two friends had passed his door. He was most likely going to start his work shift._

 _"_ _I was gonna ask…"_

 _"_ _I know what you're gonna say, Buck. I just…" Steve ran a hand through his hair and started searching his pockets for his key as they reached the old door… And then he started searching all the other pockets of his jacket and trousers, only to find that it wasn't there. He hung his head, resigned to the fact that he had forgotten his key due to everything that had happened in the last few days._

 _"_ _We can put the couch cushions on the floor like when we were kids. It'll be fun. All you got to do is shine my shoes, maybe take out the trash." Seeing his friend search his pockets for the key that he knew wasn't there, Bucky decided to help him out. He kicked away a loose brick on the floor close to the apartment, to reveal a key, which he picked up and handed to Steve, who looked at where the brick was, and then back to his friend standing before him, "Come on."_

 _"_ _Thank you, Buck, but I can get by on my own."_

 _But Bucky wasn't going to let that happen. "The thing is, you don't have to." He put a hand on Steve's shoulder, and squeezed it slightly, "I'm with you to the end of the line, pal."_

 **~oOo~**

This is when Sam decided to join Steve. "He's gonna be there, you know."

"I know."

Sam kept on walking until he was stood right next to Steve. "Look, whoever he used to be and the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save. He's the kind you stop." Sam too shim honestly. He wasn't saying it to be cruel or uncaring towards Steve's feelings, but rather to be objective. To be the person he was when he did the group sessions with the veterans. To be the kind of person who would tell you their feelings towards a situation without fearing the consequences.

"I don't know if I can do that." Steve said truthfully.

"Well, he might not give you a choice. He doesn't know you."

"He will." Steve looked away from the view of Washington, and turned his attention to Sam, "Gear up. It's time. We'll figure out what to do with the female once we find out who she is. It's unlikely that both Bucky and Beth survived the fall." And then he started walking away from Sam, towards the fence in the trees, and from there, he could get closer to the city.

"You gonna war that?"

Steve looked back at Sam, but he didn't stop walking. "No. If you're gonna fight a war, you got to wear a uniform."

 **~oOo~**

The Captain made his way tot he Smithsonian, more specifically, he made his way to the Captain America exhibit, to retrieve the replica of his original suit. Having an exact replica of his old suit might just jog a memory inside his best friend… Might just make him remember who he really was, and not who HYDRA had forced him to be over the years. If he could jog a memory inside his best friend, maybe he could find out what had become of Regina. Whether she survived or not, and what HYDRA might have done to, or with, her.

On his way out, Steve spotted one of the pictures of Bucky and Regina together. They were laughing and holding onto each other without a care in the world, neither of them knowing what was going to happen to them only a few months after the picture was taken. Steve could still hear them laughing, even though the picture had been taken seventy years before.

"I'm gonna save him, Beth. Even if it's the last thing I do." He promised her carefree picture. He was going to make sure she could rest in peace, knowing that her sweetheart had finally been saved from the years of torture that he had been forced to endure at the hands of HYDRA.

And Steve only just made it out of the exhibit before the old security guard started doing his rounds to make sure everything was fine for the beginning of the day. What the security guard found though, had him talking about how he was going to be fired when he saw that the costume of Captain America had been taken; leaving the thin, metal shield covering the mannequins private parts.

However, Steve wasn't around to hear that. He was already making his way back to where Natasha, Sam, Hill and Fury were. It was time to put their plan into action, and that meant risking their lives to stop HYDRA from killing a lot of innocent people, and taking the chance to help one – possibly two – brainwashed assassins, both of whom were trying to kill them.


	8. I'm Dying To Live

**Hey guys and gals. We're almost at the end now. This is mostly where my mad idea comes into effect, but a little more gets explained at the beginning of the next chapter as well.**

 **If you want, I can post 3 times this week - today (Monday), Wednesday and Friday, but you'd have to let me know, cause otherwise I'll keep the same schedule of Friday for Chapter 9, and then next Wednesday (3rd October). It doesn't bother me, just have to know if this is something you want.**

 **In other news, I went to the gym yesterday, and I hope I can go twice a week (anxiety/other plans not getting in the way though). I went with mama, and we were there for a couple of hours - chatting and being shown how to use all the machines. I'm gonna go again tomorrow.**

 **Anyway, on with the chapter. I hope you guys love it. Thanks to everybody who's favourited, subscribed, followed, kudosed and all that jazz.**

 **Please R &R/comment if you want to.**

 **T.C**

 **PS. It's still not too late to suggest things for the next book of the series. I haven't started writing it yet, but I have a lot of it planned, so if there's anything you want to see or have happen, let me know and I'll try to incorporate it.**

 **~oOo~**

 **Chapter 8**

 **I'm Dying To Live**

 _It was the spring of nineteen forty-four, and it was cold. From my time as a prisoner, I was used to the cold, but it still wasn't a nice feeling. The only positives about this situation, were the facts that I was with Bucky and the Howling Commandos, I was wearing more clothes, and we had camping rolls which provided more heat during the cold nights._

 _We were en route to one of the HYDRA bases that we'd marked on the map, but it still meant a few days trek on foot, and camping out in the cold. We couldn't get dropped off or driven closer without alerting our enemy, so it involved making our way through the woods._

 _Steve and Dum Dum were trying to keep our spirits up, but all of us were battling our own demons from our time at the Austrian munitions base – Bucky and I dealing with more than the others. None of them had been tortured and experimented on by Zola, and I had been held captive for longer than the rest of them. I'd only just started to gain back a lot of the weight that I'd lost during my months of captivity… At least you couldn't see my ribs through my skin anymore, and my hip bones were becoming less noticeable as I ate more food._

 _So on our third day of our trek, I decided to take the first watch with Bucky. I was wrapped in a blanket, cuddled up to Bucky as I tried to keep warm. He put his arm round my shoulder and rubbed the top of my arm, and arranged his blanket to cover my legs as well._

 _"_ _Marry me?" He suddenly said out of the blue. We'd been sitting in silence for quite a while, just enjoying each others company._

 _"_ _What?" I felt really dumb for asking it, but I had to make sure I'd heard him correctly, and it wasn't just my mind playing tricks on me._

 _"_ _Marry me?"_

 _Okay, so I had heard him correctly, but that was not going to be how I remembered being proposed to. It wasn't going to be in the middle of the woods, in the cold, on our way to kick some HYDRA butt. And I didn't want him doing it because he believed one of us wasn't going to make it back to camp._

 _"_ _If you're going to propose, you're going to do it right." I told him, looking up into his eyes, "I expect you to get down on one knee, not in the middle of a mission, and I expect a ring at some point."_

 _And, believe it or not, two weeks after we arrived back at camp, Bucky got down on one knee in the middle of the mess hall, and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes, and he slid the simple, elegant, and beautiful ring onto my finger._

 **~oOo~**

 _What seemed like years after that event, the war had come to an end, and we were allowed to go home. We'd defeated HYDRA before anything got out of hand, and Johann Schmidt, aka the Red Skull, had been killed in the firefight, and while Jacques had been injured by a stray bullet, all of us had made it out of the base unharmed. We'd lost some men after they had been vaporized by some of the HYDRA technology that could be found in their guns, but the enemy had lost a lot more men then we had. Some had even surrendered when we started to overwhelm them._

 _I travelled to America with Bucky and Steve a week after we had taken down the last HYDRA base, our main mission being finished, and all of us Howling Commandos in desperate need of some leave. I met Bucky's parents and siblings, we bought a small house in New York with the help of Howard, and we married in a small ceremony three years to the day from when we'd first met in London. Chester walked me down the aisle, and all the team were in attendance. We even had some empty seats for those who were no longer with us, like my family and Abraham._

 _Soon after we got married, Steve bought the house next to us, and had finally worked up enough courage to ask Peggy out, and nobody could be more proud of him, then the two of us. I was always so excited when she came round, because we'd almost always catch up over a cup of tea and some home-made biscuits – made by Mrs. Ana Jarvis, who had taken quite a shine to the both of us – and Steve would always wait until we'd finished, or he'd just come join us. He always looked like an overgrown puppy as he watched us, awkwardly holding his cup._

 _And after nearly five years of marriage, I finally got an inkling that I might be pregnant. So it meant a trip to the doctors, and then a weeks wait for the results to come back. I didn't want to get Bucky's hopes up, only to have them shot down if it turned out to be false. I didn't think I'd be able to bear the look of heartbreak on his face. We'd been trying so hard for over a year, and every test had come back false, and every time it happened, we just held each other and cried._

 _The results came back as positive. I couldn't stop smiling, and I had the urge to start skipping down the street on the way home. And when I got there, I started baking cakes and making dinner; dancing around the kitchen with the batter bowl under my arm._

 _Months seemed to pass by amazingly fast, and my bump quickly grew. Bucky couldn't stop touching it, and would always talk about how he was going to be a dad to anybody who would listen. He would stare in amazement as the bump continued to grow, and kept telling Steve how I was growing a tiny human, and Steve would always smile and agree with his best friend – even though he could see it happening before his eyes, and heard it all before._

 _But, of course, nothing could remain perfect forever. As the months passed by, and my bump continued to grow, I started to see things. A person through the scope of a rifle; blood splattered across the walls and the floor. Dead bodies seemed to haunt me wherever I went, their soulless eyes staring at me. And then the worst one came… The bloodied body of an older Howard and an unknown woman laying slumped in the wreck of a car, with two people standing at the boot._

 _They weren't trying to help Howard or the woman, only taking out a briefcase and putting it on the back of the motorcycle behind them, before they turned around to face me, and I was shocked by who they were. It was Bucky and I, but at the same time, it wasn't us. Bucky had a metal arm and longer hair, and the both of us looked like we didn't have any sort of emotion behind our eyes… And they were both looking at me. My doppelgänger raised her gun, and fired._

 _That's when the whole scene changed. The blond from the bridge was leaning out of a train screaming 'no!' as we fell further away from him. Soldiers were dragging us through the snow, a bloody trail following us. Doctors were crowding round us, and I could hear the saw cutting through bone._

 _"_ _You are to be the new fists of HYDRA. Put them on ice." A small man in glasses was smirking at me as he stabbed something into my chest, before they moved me somewhere else; a door closing, and ice spreading out around me…_

 **~oOo~**

I lashed out at somebody, almost at the exact same time as my Soldier did. The scientist working on his arm, and the doctor checking me over for any injuries, didn't stand a chance of getting away. They both went flying across the room before the guns were trained on us. And this incident would mean Pierce would get called in, and depending on his mood, he would decide what our punishment was going to be.

"Sir." I heard somebody say, but I wasn't really paying attention to them. I was too busy thinking about the memory… No, it wasn't a memory. It was more of a what could have been, "They're… They're unstable. Erratic."

However, the barred door opened, and in walked Pierce, Rumlow, and two other men from outside. The guns were still trained on us, ready to fire if we so much as twitched, but Pierce held up his hands in a motion to get them to lower their weapons. The door to the vault closed while the head of HYDRA put his glasses in the inside pocket of his jacket.

"Mission report." He said, but we didn't answer him, continuing to just stare blankly ahead, "Mission report now." He stepped closer to us, not saying another word as he calmly back handed my Soldier. I was on my feet almost in an instant, only to sit back down when the guns were aimed at me again; silently staring daggers at the black clad soldiers.

"The man on the bridge." The Soldier spoke after a few seconds, "Who was he?"

It took Pierce a couple of seconds to answer the question, but the way he answered told me that there was more to the story. "You met him earlier this week on another assignment." But in my memory – or whatever it was – the blond was featured heavily.

"We knew him."

Pierce pulled up a seat and sat down in front of us, almost like he was saying 'you will look at me,' without actually saying anything. "Your work has been a gift to mankind. You've shaped the century. And I need you two to do it one more time." I looked to the side, watching as the Soldiers face fell as Pierce kept on talking, "Society's at a tipping point between order and chaos. And tomorrow morning, we're gonna give it a push. But, if you don't do your part, I can't do mine. And HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves."

"But we knew him." The Soldier gave a small smile, and I took his flesh hand in mine, and gave it a slight squeeze.

There was more silence in the following seconds; Pierce silently getting up and turning away from us. "Prep them."

"They've been out of cryofreeze too long."

"Then wipe them and start over."

I couldn't stop the tears from welling up in my eyes, as we held each others hands. I know that they would prep him first, and would make me watch, before they would do the same thing to him… Make him watch as they prepped me. So I didn't know if it was worse to watch and forget, or forget and then watch, because the Soldier would remember it happening to me, but I wouldn't remember it happening to him until the vague memories started to come at the end of the mission.

A couple of the agents pulled me away from the Soldier and held me in place, while two doctors pushed him back on the chair, and put the gum guard in his mouth; a look of defiance on his face as the metal clamps secured him in place, and the electrified plates came down around his head.

He screamed around the mouth guard, and it echoed round the vault. I could tell he was scared, because who wouldn't be scared as an electric current pulsed through your head, making you forget everything but what they wanted you to remember… And Pierce and Rumlow just walked away.

"You're cowards!" I screamed at their retreating backs, which just earned me a solid punch to the jaw as they restrained me, but that didn't stop me, "Men like you will never win… Not in the end."

The head of HYDRA briefly turned back to face me. "But we already have." And then he continued to walk away from the Soldiers screams, and I knew full well that my own would be following soon after. And I knew that it would be just as painful as the Soldiers was, only I knew I wouldn't remember any of it happening.

 **~oOo~**

Once the both of us had been briefed on what our mission was, guards came to collect me. I was given my mask to put on, but I noticed some swelling and bruising on my jaw, but I couldn't remember how it came to be there, or even how I got it. Everything but the mission, my training, my victims, and HYDRA was gone, like there was a big, blank space where I knew something had to have been there, but it wasn't there anymore.

None of that mattered though. The only thing that mattered, was the mission. I could figure out what the blank space in my mind was later, but given the other times that it had happened in the past, it most likely came from the memory wipe before missions, and would come back at some point if it was important. Most important things came back in the end.

In the end, the agents had to sneak me into S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, and take me up to Pierce's office via a long, and convoluted way so that nobody would see me entering, and run the risk of our whole plan failing before it had even started. That would've just been a pointless waste of time and effort, if it happened.

So while Pierce was downstairs greeting the World Security Council, I made myself at home in his office. He hasn't told me why I was there, only that he wanted me there for a little bit, and that I was then going to join the Soldier when he told me to.

And after exchanging some pleasantries, Pierce was finally able to talk about the main reason they had flown all the way to Washington D.C.. "I know the road hasn't exactly been smooth, and some of you would have gladly kicked me out of the car along the way." He turned round to look at the 'Countdown to Launch' on the glass screen, "Finally, we're here. And the world should be grateful." He held up his champagne glass and took a small drink, before somebody over the intercom interrupted.

" _Attention all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, this is Steve Rogers_." The look on Pierce's face said everything I needed to know, " _You've heard a lot about me over the last few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth_." There was a pause, and I went to get up, but Pierce held up his hand to stop me, " _S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't what we thought it was. It's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader_." The four Council members turned to look at him as he made his way closer to me, " _The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. The could be standing right next to you_." Pierce got something out of his pocket, " _They almost have what they want. Absolute control. They shot Nick Fury. And it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot. But the price of freedom is high. It always has been... And it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not_."

"You smug son of a bitch." Councilman Rockwell came out with, while Councilwoman Hawley asked, "What have you done to Diana?" at almost the exact same time.

Pierce just has a slight smile on his face as he continued to pace up and down the room. Obviously he was angry about getting called out, but the smile also said that he still owned some of the cards. "A Hydra is a monster from Greek Mythology, but some names changed when Greek Myth turned into Roman Mythology." The Council members were looking at him like he'd lost his mind, but none of them dared to interrupt him, "Zeus got turned into Jupiter, Hades was Pluto, and so on. But the one which is more important in this conversation isn't a God or a monster, but rather, a Goddess. The Goddess of the hunt, forest and hills, the moon, and archery. In Greek Mythology, her name is Artemis, but in Roman Mythology –" Pierce walked over to me, and led me to the centre of the room; removing the mask which he had insisted that I wear while not bothering to tell the Soldier to put his on, "– her name is Diana." And he stepped away from me, letting the Council see my face.


	9. Shadow of my Doubt

**Hey guys and gals. Here's another chapter, which also happens to be the longest. The word count on my doc says it's 9,130 words, but when I copied it to here, it told me it was 9,418 words, so it's rather confusing, but oh well. It's a long chapter whatever the word count.**

 **Anyway, I decided that I'd do the remaining chapters this week so it can be finished in September, and then I don't have to worry about it not being finished. Knowing me, I'd forget.**

 **So, on with the chapter. Thanks to all of you who have commented, reviewed, favourited, followed and all that jazz.**

 **Please R &R/comment if you want.**

 **T.C**

 **~oOo~**

 **Chapter 9**

 **Shadow of my Doubt**

The Winter Phantom stood in front of the World Security Council and Alexander Pierce, and she was unmasked in public for only the second time in the seventy years that she had been held captive for – the first time begin the assassination of Howard and Maria Stark on December sixteenth nineteen ninety-one. But without the mask, she looked just as menacing as she did with it, with the dark hair, the cold, emotionless pale green eyes, the black Kevlar, and all the weapons that were hidden on her person.

There were gasps of surprise from the Council, while Pierce just smirked at them. "Diana has been feeding me information for months. She gained all your trust, and you gave her what I needed. All these meetings we had, and she was hacking your secure servers." Pierce hung the Phantoms mask from her belt, "And the best part of all this, was that she had no idea she was even doing it." His smile seemed to grow even bigger, "She's what you'd call a 'Sleeper Agent,' but unlike many of the other people in this building, she's never had a choice in the matter… In fact, she hasn't been given a choice in a very long time. Almost seventy years now." Pierce turned to the Phantom, "You can go join your Soldier." And she left, walking past the other agents that were coming to Pierce's aid, before he faced the Council again, "There's very little of Lieutenant Regina Larson left."

Councilman Nagendra Singh was the first to break through his shock of being told a War Hero had been turned into a criminal, an assassin who had no idea who she really was, and was working for the people she had 'died' for to protect the rest of the world. He turned to the agents who the Phantom had passed on the way out, not realizing who they really were. "Arrest him."

But all the front man of the three agents did, was pull out his gun, and aim it at the Councilman. The other Council members looked shocked and confused, but Pierce remained completely calm. He knew that the agents in the room were part of the STRIKE team, and they were there to protect him with the absence of the Soldier and Phantom. "I guess I've got the floor."

 **~oOo~**

In the Control Room of the Triskelion, agents were looking around at the other people in the room, wondering if any of them were secretly working for HYDRA. They all knew Brock Rumlow was one of their enemies when he walked in with some of his STRIKE team, but nobody did anything when he walked past them, because they were afraid of what might happen if they tried to do anything.

"Preempt the launch sequence. Send those ships up now." Rumlow told the technician, Cameron Klein, but he didn't do anything. He was looking round the room at the other people around him, while Rumlow continued to stare at him, and wondering why his demand hadn't been done yet, "If there a problem?"

Cameron just shook his head, everybody in the room staring at him, and wanting to know what his next move was going to be. He was already frightened by what was going on, with a known HYDRA agent looming over his shoulder and his colleagues all turned to face him. It would have been quite easy to give in to the demand and he would be done with it, but then he himself would become the enemy.

"Is there a problem?" Rumlow repeated, even louder and more forceful then the first time he said it.

"I'm sorry, sir." Cameron answered quickly, his breathing picking up as he is heart continued to beat faster and faster; all eyes fixed on him as they waited with baited breath to see what his next move would be, "I'm not gonna launch those ships… Captain's orders."

Rumlow pulled out a gun from the holster on his thigh and raised it to Cameron's head; moving slightly from the technicians side to the back, an execution style kill if he were to fire at that moment. "Move away from your station."

Agent Thirteen had other ideas though. She marched forward, and pointed her gun at Rumlow; ignoring all the STRIKE team that had their own weapons trained on her, and everybody else in the room. "Like he said…" More guns from the agents around them were pulled out and raised towards the enemy, with orders being shouted, "Captain's orders."

"You picked the wrong side, Agent." Rumlow pressed his gun into the back of Cameron's head, but Agent Thirteen just pressed her own gun into his temple.

"Depends on where you're standing."

Around the room, the two sides still had their guns trained on each other, but a lot of the other technicians were still sitting at their desks, not really knowing what to do. They worked with computers and analysis, and didn't need to use guns, so they didn't carry them like other agents, or even have a license to use one. There was very little point in them having one either, because they were normally safe in the Control Room.

And then, after a few tense seconds, Rumlow lowered his weapon and dropped it on the floor. It didn't stop everyone else from keeping their guns raised, or Cameron from being terrified that his life was about to end, but it did bring a false sense of security. Only seconds after dropping his weapon, Rumlow pulled out a knife from his holster and slashed Agent Thirteen's arm, causing her to drop her own gun in shock and pain. It didn't stop him from grabbing the falling weapon and shooting the faithful S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

Just as he was about to shoot Cameron though, Agent Thirteen kicked his chair out of the way, and he fell to the floor; taking cover under the desk as bullets continued to fly around the room. This didn't stop Rumlow from launching the Helicarriers himself, as he used Cameron's computer to quickly type in the commands, before shooting a the blond agent – who'd just rolled under one of the desks – and making a hasty retreat; bullets following him as he went.

Only after he was gone, did a box pop up on the big screen at the front of the room. In big, orange letters, was the flashing word – _OVERRIDE_.

 **~oOo~**

Outside, alarms were blaring and the bay doors in the Potomac started to open. Water dripped down into the hanger onto the Helicarriers, and a worker was running towards the workers in their office. He was yelling at them to 'close the bay doors,' but HYDRA got to them before they could do anything.

Bullets hit the yelling man, and more pierced the glass and hit the two workers inside the office, all of them falling dead to the ground. More agents appeared, and it became another firefight between the two sides – S.H.I.E.L.D. against HYDRA. One side reacting to the assault that the other side had been planning for many years, just waiting for the right moment to strike.

The engines of the Helicarriers started powering up when all three of the bay doors had fully opened, waiting until there was enough power to get them up into the air. Maria Hill watched all of this happen from her place in the security hub, where she was being the eyes and ears for the entire team.

"They're initiating launch." She told them, just before the three Helicarriers started to slowly lift off out of the hangers from where they had been parked, and every person onboard those Helicarriers couldn't be trusted. Every single one of them was HYDRA. It was a race against time now.

 **~oOo~**

Captain America and Sam Wilson – now back in his Falcon suit – were running past Quinjets and boxes of weapons and supplies. They were trying to reach the opening of the bay doors before any of the Helicarriers raised high enough for them to not be able to make a surprise attack. At the moment, they had the element of surprise, but that could change at any moment.

"Hey, Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?" Sam asked, just about keeping up with the Super Soldier the further they got away from the Triskelion building.

"If they're shooting at you, they're bad." Was all the Captain said, but that was enough for Sam. The engines of his suit started powering up, and the metal wings spread out, before he took flight; flying off to the left, while Steve dropped down onto the deck of the slowly rising Helicarrier.

It took a few seconds for the HYDRA agents to jump into action, which gave Steve enough time to get ready for their assault. He was able to avoid all the bullets that they fired at him, and was able to take out one of the agents in just a few seconds; taking one of the grenades from the agent he'd just knocked out, and pulled out the pin. He waited a couple of seconds before he rolled it towards the three agents making their way to where he was currently taking cover, and taking them out.

Sam, on the other hand, did not have it as easy as the Captain. He was flying towards one of the Helicarriers, only to have multiple shots fired at him by the heavy cannons - which were the primary weapons for the ships, and could probably leave no trace of you if one were to hit a person. He was still able to joke about it though, as he avoided each and every shot.

"Hey, Cap, I found those bad guys you were talking about."

"You okay?"

Falcon, as Sam wanted to be called, continued to avoid the heavy artillery fire that was being aimed his way, and being smaller, quicker and more agile than the cannons, made it easier for him to evade the explosions going off around him. "I'm not dead yet."

And Pierce just watched all of this happen from his office on one of the top floors in the Triskelion. He looked concerned at all the heavy fire going on, and knew it was going to cause a lot of attention, but he didn't look resigned tot he fact that the plan might not work. He still held his phone in his hand as he turned round to face the members of the Council; they all had different emotions on their faces, ranging from confusion to defiance.

"Let me ask you a question." He put his phone down on the table, and picked up one of the glasses of champagne, "What if Pakistan marched into Mumbai tomorrow, and you knew that they were going to drag your daughters into a soccer stadium for execution." Pierce handed the glass to Councilman Singh, "And you could just stop it, with a flick of a switch. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't al of you?" Pierce looked round at all of the Council members, waiting for them to say or do something.

In the end, it was Councilman Singh that answered him. "Not if it was your switch." And he threw the champagne glass to the side, where it smashed against the wall, without ever taking his eyes off of the head of HYDRA.

Pierce just gave a small smile as one of the STRIKE members in the room pulled a gun from his holster and handed it to him, where he then proceeded to point the gun at the Councilman. But before he could do anything, Councilwoman Hawley kicked Singh out of the way, punched Pierce in the face, threw one of the Widow Bites at the STRIKE team member who was coming towards her, hit another member in the face with the gun she'd taken off of Pierce, and beat a third one to the ground. She then knocked the one she'd tasered out by bashing his head against a table when he tried to get up, and then left the final one unconscious on the floor, before picking up one of the guns on the floor, and trained it on Pierce.

Councilwoman Hawley then pressed a spot on her temple, and her face started to pixilate, and her voice distorted as she continued to stare at the shocked Pierce. "I'm sorry." She then took off the mask on her face, and pulled off the wig to reveal Natasha Romanoff, "Did I step on your moment?"

 **~oOo~**

Inside one of the Helicarriers, two HYDRA agents were talking about how the satellites would be in range at three thousand feet, but back in the security hub, or the Command Centre as it was being used as, Maria Hill was still keeping an eye on everyone and everything.

"Falcon, status?" She asked, turning away from the window which was giving her a clear view of what was going on outside.

"Engaging." Sam told her, still avoiding all the fire that was being thrown at him. He dived at one of the Helicarriers, spinning out of the way of explosions as he got closer to his target, before veering off to the side and coming back around; hitting a button on his thigh, and two guns assembled themselves within seconds. Then he dropped down onto the deck, out of the way of the heavy cannons, and took out two HYDRA agents. "All right, Cap. I'm in." He said, hovering in the air, just before a Quinjet came into view, "Shit."

Sam took off as fast as he could, keeping low and staying under the wings of the jets on the deck of the Helicarrier; bullets following him, until one got lucky. He'd just passed the last jet, when a bullet hit it, and it exploded; sending Sam tumbling to the ground, but he got up quickly. He fired his own guns at the Quinjet – hitting the window shield, and leaving bullet holes in it – before he calmly fell backwards off of the Helicarrier; his wings extending only seconds later to help with his escape. None of this stopped the Quinjet from following Sam, but it did slow it down a bit. It still continued to follow him though, and kept shooting at him.

Back with Captain America, smoke was now clouding the vision of everyone not in the general vicinity, but Steve was still able to hit and knock out many of the HYDRA agents with ease. He used his shield to his advantage, and it didn't seem as though the smoke was slowing him down at all. He easily took out nine agents in quick succession, just before Agent Hill told him he only had eight minutes left.

"Working on it." He replied, catching his shield as it returned to him, and put it on his arm; opening up the door that would lead him where he needed to go.

 **~oOo~**

Pierce's phone was still on the table, and he looked at the upturned, lit screen, but knew that he could do nothing with Councilman Yen pointing a gun at him and the Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, standing just across the room on one of the computers. She was typing commands into it, and not really minding anyone in the room, but still paying enough attention to be able to do something if she had to.

"What are you doing?" Rockwell asked her, looking at the information on the screen.

"She's disabling security protocols and dumping all the secrets on the internet." Pierce told them, moving closer to the centre of the room, and Yen followed him very carefully.

"Including HYDRA's"

"And S.H.I.E.L.D.'s." Natasha just kept on typing though, trying not to pay any attention to what he was saying, "If you do this, none of your past will remain hidden. Not Budapest. Not Osaka… Not the children's ward." Her fingers stopped for a couple of seconds, but them she went straight back to what she was doing as Pierce got closer, "Are you sure you're ready for the world to see you as you really are?"

Natasha didn't waste a second as she looked him directly in the eyes and asked, "Are you?"

"Look out the window." He turned to face the wall of windows, which was giving a clear picture of the destruction going on outside, "It doesn't matter what our enemies think about us anymore."

"That's why they're going down."

"A pretty high opinion of Rogers chances."

"Clearly you haven't been paying attention" Natasha smirked at him, barely looking up from the screen to stare him in the face.

 **~oOo~**

Steve ran along the walkway of the Helicarrier and made it to the control panel; typing in a sequence of numbers on the keypad, and waited for the line of computer chips to stop where he needed it to. He quickly took out the one that he needed, and replace it with the one that he'd been given by Fury and Hill. Once that was done, he pressed another button on the keypad, and let the chips go back to where they had originally been, before he started running back up the walkway.

"Alpha lock." He told Maria, whose laptop had just popped up with the information about one Helicarrier being linked into their system.

"Falcon, where are you now?"

"I had to take a detour." He shouted over the roar of the Helicarrier, Quinjet, and his own engines, as well as the artillery fire that was still being thrown his way. He avoided every single one of them, but it wasn't long before the pilot of the Quinjet had Sam locked in his sights, and missiles were fired at him.

At first, Sam thought that he might have been lucky when he veered off to the side and the missiles went past him… But they just locked onto him again, and they went right back to following him again. Sam used the Insight Helicarrier to his advantage though, taking tight corners and flying as close as possible to the outside of the ship, which caused a lot of the missiles to explode when they made contact with the metal.

When only a couple of the missiles remained, Sam flew straight at the glass dome bottom of the Helicarrier; waiting until the last minute to retract his wings, and curl up into a tight ball as he fell way and waited for the last explosion to happen. As soon as that happened, and he'd fallen far enough away to avoid the debris falling from the ship, he extended his wings again, and made his way into the Helicarrier by the hole he'd just created. He made quick work of changing the computer chip before making his way out.

"Bravo lock." He announced, only seconds before it appeared on the laptop screen Maria was looking at.

"Two down, one to go." She told them.

 **~oOo~**

On the ground, faithful S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were gearing up to go to the jets, and flight crews were getting the jets ready for flight as quickly as possible, as well as making sure that everything was okay for a safe flight. They couldn't be too careful when they knew HYDRA had been involved.

"All S.H.I.E.L.D. pilots, scramble." The leader of the pilots was telling everyone through his radio, "We're the only air support Captain Rogers has got." He was about to say something else when one of the jets next to his group exploded, and maven across the runway to create an even bigger explosion.

The Soldier and the Phantom could be seen through the dark smoke and fire; each holding a grenade launcher, and firing at the jets around them. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were either blasted back or collapsed where they had been standing. Whether they were dead or just unconscious was a mystery, but nobody there was going to check at this moment in time.

One brave agent pulled the pin out of one of their grenades, but the Soldier shot him before he could throw it at them, while the Phantom picked up the live grenade, and chucked it into one of the closing jet doors as she ran past. The people inside didn't stand a chance, as the jet erupted into a ball of flames only seconds later.

Another agent tried to shoot them, but the Soldier was easily able to block the bullets with his metal arm before punching him in the face, and kicking the other in the chest; sending him flying back into the engine of a jet that was just about to take off; killing him instantly.

In one of the last remaining jets, the pilot heard something hit the outside, and a shadow passed over him. He looked up to see the Phantom staring down at him with a gun pointed at his head. It didn't take her long to fire two shots through the glass and kill him, before throwing the gun away. She pulled his body out of the side window, and made herself comfy in one of the pilot seats; waiting for her Soldier to take the other seat before they made their way up to the last remaining Helicarrier.

 **~oOo~**

Natasha was still working on the encryption for the dump of all the dirty secrets S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, while Councilman Yen still had his gun trained on Pierce's back, but the head of HYDRA still didn't look all that worried about what she was doing.

"Disabling the encryption is an executive order." Pierce told the Black Widow, "It takes two Alpha Level members."

"Don't worry. Company's coming."

Then, all of a sudden, everybody in the room heard the blades of a helicopter cutting through the air as it got closer to the pad outside. They all turned to look out of the window to see the black helicopter landing – Pierce walking closer then anybody else – and saw somebody get out before they made their way towards the doors… And in walked Nick Fury.

Pierce gave a small nod as everything started to fall into place, but Fury just walked the edge of the room as the helicopter blades outside started to slow down. The Council members looked a little shocked to see the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. alive and well, but it hadn't been the biggest curveball of the day, what with HYDRA coming back into the open and two dead War Heroes having been turned into assassins.

"Did you get my flowers?" Pierce asked, but he didn't receive an answer from Fury, and Natasha just got ready at the keyboard of her computer, "I'm glad you're here, Nick."

"Really?" He wasn't missing a beat as he walked closer to his former friend, "Because I thought you had me killed."

"You know how the game works."

"So why make me head of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"I did what I did to protect people."

The computer screen to the side of them said ' _RESTRICTED ACCESS_ ' as they continued their tennis match conversation. "Our enemies are your enemies, Nick. Disorder. War. It's just a matter of time before a dirty bomb goes off in Moscow, or an EMP fries Chicago." Pierce stopped talking for a few seconds, "Diplomacy? A holding action, Nick. And you know where I learned that; Bogota." Fury stood a little taller at that; his interest peaking, "You didn't ask. You just did what had to be done. I can bring order to the lives of seven billion people by sacrificing twenty million. It's the next step, Nick. If you have the courage to take it."

Fury stepped even closer to Pierce. "No. I have the courage not to." He grabbed his arm, and pulled him towards the computer screen; the gun Councilman Yen was pointing at Pierce following them. Natasha just looked at Fury, who gave a small, almost imperceptible nod, and she typed in one more thing.

" _Retinal scanner active._ " The computerized voice said.

Natasha came out from behind the computer she'd been working on, and pointed another gun at Pierce's head, while Fury turned the head of HYDRA towards the scanner, but he turned back. Pierce didn't mind Natasha, and turned to face the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D..

"You don't thing we've wiped your clearance from the system?" Pierce looked a little smug as he informed Fury of this. He was thinking that he was actually going to get away with everything that he had been working towards. But the smirk was soon wiped off of his face.

"I know you erased my password. Probably deleted my retinal scan. But if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary –" Fury pulled up his eye patch to reveal his scarred, mangled eye, "– you need to keep both eyes open." And he nodded his head towards the scanner.

" _Alpha level confirmed._ " Came the computerized voice when both Pierce and Fury's retinal scans were accepted, and the 'RESTRICTED ACCESS' that had been on the screen vanished; being replaced with all the information that they needed, " _Encryption code accepted. Safeguards removed_."

 **~oOo~**

"Charlie carrier is forty five degrees off the Port bow." Maria told Steve and Sam, before she looked up at one of the screens in front of her. It had ' ** _INCOMING SURV FEEDS_** _PNL B_ ,' and it showed two armed soldiers coming through the door which led to the control room she was currently in. This didn't bother her though. She just pushed her chair away from the desk, and shot the two men just as they walked though the door, before standing up and walking back to the screens, "Six minutes."

Steve, who was running away from the HYDRA soldiers on the deck of the Helicarrier, raised his wrist to his mouth, "Hey, Sam, gonna need a ride." All of the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. employees got into position, and got ready to fire at the person who was getting in the way of HYDRA's plan.

"Roger. Let me know when you're ready." Sam said, flying towards the Helicarrier that his friend was currently on.

Without wasting a second, Steve ran and jumped off of the side of the Insight Helicarrier; barely avoiding the explosion that went off right behind him. "I just did!" He shouted, falling past the engines and out into the open air. Sam had to react quickly, otherwise there wouldn't be a Captain America anymore, because he'd have been replaced by a red, white and blue splat on the ground.

Thankfully, Sam was able to catch him before he fell into the Insight hanger and, with a shout of determination, was able to fly – and drop – Steve off on the last remaining Helicarrier, and landed next to him; retracting his wings. "You know, you're a lot heavier then you look."

"I had a big breakfast."

Before either of them saw or even heard anything, the Winter Soldier had come out of nowhere, and slammed into Captain America; sending him through the railing, and over the side of the Helicarrier. Sam shouted his friends name, but he didn't get very far in a rescue attempt when the Soldier used his metal arm to grab onto the left wing of the Falcon suit. He yanked him back, but had to move out of the way pretty quick when Sam started firing at the metal armed soldier.

Sam used this as his distraction to try and get away, but he'd forgotten in all the confusion and bullets flying everywhere, that there were actually _two_ assassins that he had to look out for. He was so focused on getting away from the one he could see, that he missed the unmasked Winter Phantom. She fired a magnet at one of his wings and pulled him to the ground, before she yanked on the line again and the wing came off entirely. The Phantom then ran at the man on the floor, a look of fierce determination on her face as she kicked the man off of the Helicarrier.

The two assassins watched as Sam fell. He was screaming and fumbling desperately for the release button for his remaining wing before he pulled the cords for his parachute. Sam was only just able to slow down enough to not cause himself serious harm as he landed with a grunt on top of the Triskelion.

" _Cap! Cap, come in. Are you okay?_ "

By some miracle, Steve had been able to grab onto something on the Helicarrier, and was currently climbing back up towards the deck, even if it was going to be a very long climb. "Yeah, I'm here. I'm still on the Helicarrier. Where are you?" He got to a place where he could take a small rest.

" _I'm grounded. The suit's down. Sorry, Cap._ "

"Don't worry. I got it." But little did they know that the Soldier and the Phantom had seen Steve making his way up the side of the Helicarrier, and had heard every word that he'd said… And they turned and headed towards where they knew he'd be heading. It was just after they left, that Steve was told something else.

" _Natasha wanted me to tell you that the female is Regina Larson._ " Maria's voice came over the comms, " _She said you'd know who she means._ "

 **~oOo~**

Inside the Triskelion building, people were running around, and the same computerized voice from Pierce's office was alerting them to the emergency evacuation, and telling them to head for the designated safety points. But elsewhere, Brock Rumlow was taking out anybody he could find that was still loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D.

" _Sir, the Council's been breached._ " One of his men told him through his earpiece, and it looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Repeat, Dispatch."

" _Black Widow's up there._ "

"Headed up." And he kicked open the door t the stairwell; checking to see that nobody was coming up or down the stairs before he started making his way up towards the Council.

Little did he know though, that Maria Hill saw all of this from another screen that had been running a facial scan on the man. This one was titled ' ** _INCOMING SURV FEED_** _PNL C._ ' Brock didn't seem to notice the camera in the stairwell, but if he did, he didn't do anything about it. He probably thought if anybody was in the surveillance room, it would most likely be somebody who was loyal to HYDRA.

" _Falcon?_ "

"Yeah." Sam was still on the roof, catching his breath after his encounter with the two assassins, and almost falling to his death.

" _Rumlow's headed for the Council._ "

"I'm on it." He said, unzipping his jacket, and tossed it down by his now inoperable suit, before he started making his was from the roof, back into the building to intercept the highly trained HYDRA operative.

 **~oOo~**

Steve ran down the metal gantry, only to come to a complete stop about halfway across from where he need to be. Standing in front of the computer module, was the Winter Soldier. He was just standing there; his long hair falling around his face. When he turned to look behind at where he'd just come from, he saw the Winter Phantom standing almost identically to her counterpart - only her hair was longer, and her cold, empty eyes were almost daring him to fight them.

"People are gonna die, Buck. Beth… I can't let that happen." But neither of them made any movement or even acknowledge that he'd said anything, "Please don't make me do this." There were tears in his eyes at the thought of having to hurt, possibly even kill, the friends he'd just got back, but when he realized that he'd have to if it meant saving other innocent lives, then he'd do whatever he had to. They'd want him to do what was right, not what was easy. So he made the first move.

He threw his shield at the Phantom, knocking her to the ground with the force of the hit to her chest, before catching the metal disk as it came back, and was only just able to get it up in time to avoid being hit by one of the bullets being fired by the Soldier. The assassin was able to get in a lucky hit, but it was more of a graze then a full on through and through. And just as the Soldier was going to try and get in anther hit, he was able to throw him back as he was hit by the Vibranium shield.

The Soldier didn't move, but that was all part of the plan. The two assassins were being a tag team, where one would fight while the other just stayed in the background till it was their time to swap in to give the first one time to recover. Of course, Steve didn't know this, and only knew that the Phantom was back on her feet when he heard something metallic being bulled from behind him. He only just turned round in time to stop himself from being stabbed, and when she came at him again, he was able to block her.

Every kick, punch or weapon coming down on him, he was able to avoid all of them… Apart from when she brought him down with two quick kicks to his calf and knee. And with the limited amount of room that they had on the walkway, when he brought his shield up to hit her, he sent her tumbling over the railing and onto the glass dome floor below them. He didn't have time to check if she was alright, but he did use what little time he did have – while the Soldier checked on his partner – to run up to the control panel and called up what he needed.

Of course the distraction didn't last very long, and within only a few seconds, the Soldier had started to continue the attack on their target. While the Phantom was strong, lethal and menacing in her own right, the Soldier's assault seemed to be a lot more powerful, and he was trying anything and everything he could think of to land a direct hit on his target.

Eventually though, Steve was able to get the knife from his best friend, but it wasn't without difficulty. The knife had made sparks when it had slashed across the shield, and he'd barely made it out of the way as it was brought back for a body shot. In the end, he'd had to knock it out of his flesh hand, while the plates in his metal arm shifted to compensate for the force being pushed upon it, which was quickly followed by a swift kick to the chest; causing the Soldier to stumble backwards.

Wasting no time at all, Steve pulled out the computer chip that needed replacing, and opened the pouch on his uniform where he was keeping the new one, but only just turned before another resounding clang came from the Soldier's fist hitting the shield again, only it didn't seem as loud as it had been earlier.

More blows were exchanged between the two, with the Soldier becoming more sloppy the longer the fight went on. He wasn't used to his opponents fighting back against him, and it was the first time he hadn't had the Phantom by his side. It was the first time that she had been injured so badly in a fight, that she hadn't immediately gotten back up to rejoin in the takedown of their target. In the end, the Soldier just got so annoyed at the amount of time being spent on a fight with little results to show for it, that he let out a shout of frustration, and body slammed into his target; sending both of them over the railing.

During the fall onto another small platform inside the dome, and the subsequent landing, the new card for the Helicarrier had slipped out of Steve's hand, and skidded right to the edge of the platform, and straight under the Soldier's metal arm.

They wasted no time in engaging each other again. More punches and kicks were exchanged, until the Soldier backhanded the Captain, and Steve was able to get ahold of the computer chip again. The Soldier soon followed him down, and quickly threw a punch – which Steve was only just able to dodge – but after a couple more hits, the chip was knocked out of the Captain's hand, and down into the dome below. Steve was able to punch the Soldier in the face, before he followed it with a swift kick to the stomach, and the assassin slipped off the edge of the platform, with Steve jumping down after him.

 **~oOo~**

Back in Pierce's office at the Triskelion, information was still being leaked onto the internet, until a box appeared on the screen saying " _TRANSFER COMPLETE_.' All of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s and HYDRA's secrets were out there for the world to see. Every mission, every life taken, every little thing that any one of the agents were ashamed of, and so many other files were available to anybody who wanted to read them.

"Done." Natasha said, before she looked at the phone in her hand, "And it's trending."

Pierce looked around the room with his eyes before a flash of light and smoke started to come from Councilman Singh's chest, and the same thing happened to Councilmen Rockwell and Yen after the head of HYDRA pressed a button on his own phone, and the three World Security Council members fell to the floor with cries of pain. Natasha quickly turned and pointed her gun at Pierce, but his thumb hovered over the phone.

"Unless you want a two-inch hole in your sternum, I'd put that gun down." He told her, but she didn't lower her weapon, and neither did Nick, "That was armed the moment you pinned it on. It pays to have an assassin who used to help Stark Senior with his weapon designs, and isn't too bad at making her own wither when she doesn't have her conscience.

Nick slowly lowered his gun, and Natasha followed soon after; dropping the weapon to the ground.

 **~oOo~**

The computer chip was just laying on the glass, and Steve took the chance to run and grab it, only to be thrown forward when his shield hit him in the back. The momentum caused him to roll a couple of times, but the shield landed close enough to him, that he was able to quickly cover his body with it as the Phantom picked up the gun on the floor, and fired it at him.

In a last ditch attempt to slow the assassin down, Steve threw his shield at her again, but she just dodged out of its way, while she pulled out another knife. Only this time, Steve wasn't able to avoid all of the attacks that came his way. He was able to avoid the knife slash, and blocked her arm as it came back, but he wasn't able to stop the combat blade from plunging into his right shoulder.

A couple of head-butts later, and Steve being knocked into one of the metal separators, he pulled out the knife that was still embedded in his shoulder. The Phantom had quickly crawled over to the chip this time, and was tightly holding it in her hand.

"I'm sorry, Beth." Steve grunted, dangling her off the floor by her neck, and then threw her to the floor; keeping a small amount of pressure on the side of her throat, and squeezing the arm with the computer chip, "Drop it!" But she didn't listen, instead, she just tried to hit him with her free arm, "Drop it!" And, again, she didn't listen, so Steve had to do whatever he had to, to make her let go. If he didn't change the chip, then millions of people were going to die… So he snapped her arm.

She screamed out in pain, but she still held on tight to the computer chip. Steve wanted to cry out in frustration at the thought of injuring his friend even more, but he also knew that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the one. Tony had made him watch some old TV show, and one of the characters had said that.

Steve flipped onto his back, and wrapped an arm round her neck; slowly applying pressure. Her left arm clawed at his own while she struggled to get out of his strong grip, but he just trapped her arm under his leg - which were wrapped around her torso. After that, it didn't take long for her to become still, and the chip slipped from her grasp. That's when he released her; rolling her over, grabbing the chip, and taking off to find a way back up to the control panel.

 **~oOo~**

"I'm on forty-one, headed towards the southwest stairwell." Rumlow told the person on the other end of his comms, before he pushed open the doors in front of him. He didn't get very far before Sam came at him from the side; punching him in the face and kneeing him in the stomach before Rumlow was able to head-butt him, and push him to the floor, "This is gonna hurt." He unzipped his bulletproof vest and took it off, "There are no prisoners with HYDRA. Just order. And order only comes through pain." Sam got up, "You ready for yours?"

"Man, shut the hell up." And they ran at each other.

 **~oOo~**

Upstairs with the three dead Council members, Pierce, Fury and Natasha, the head of HYDRA had taken over as the leader of the room. Because Pierce had the former Red Room assassin's life in his hands, they didn't dare do anything to cross him. He'd be able to end her life before they could even bring the gun up to shoot him.

"Lieutenant, how much longer?"

"Sixty-five seconds to satellite link." Came the response, "Targeting grid engaged. Lowering weapons array now." And the weapons on the Helicarriers got into position.

Maria was watching the countdown on her screens, and told the people on her comms that they only had one minute left to stop HYDRA's plan. Steve heard her as he flipped over onto the platform where he'd landed with his brainwashed best friend. He didn't acknowledge that he'd heard her, instead he just kept on trying to get back up to the control panel before his time ran out… Only, he was brought up short by a bullet piercing his thigh.

He fell onto his knees before he looked back, and saw the Soldier standing protectively by the Phantom while she started to come round; the assassin's gun trained on him. Steve could have smiled to himself at that, because he could tell that even brainwashed, they still looked out for each other, possibly even still loved one another. They might not understand the feelings, but it didn't stop the actions.

But Steve didn't have much time to stop. He immediately got up, and jumped to grab one of the bars before reaching up to grab another. That's when another shot rang out, and Steve let go of the seconds bar he'd just grabbed; the bullet only just missing his hand, but that still didn't stop him from climbing the rest of the way up and over onto the grating where the fight with the two assassins had started.

" _Thirty seconds, Cap_." Agent Hill told him as he used the railing to pull himself to his feet, and over to the computer console. He was out of breath, in pain, and tired.

"Stand by." He replied, opening the pouch on his belt again to retrieve the chip he'd put in there, "Charlie…" But he didn't get much further as another bullet tore through his back and out through his front. Steve fell to the grated floor, leaning against the control panel, before he looked down at the bloodstain that was spreading over the red and white stripes of his uniform.

 **~oOo~**

"We've reached three thousand feet. Sat link coming online now."

"Deploy algorithm."

"Algorithm deployed." The first one said as a red circle appeared on his screen, which covered most of the east coast and just kept getting bigger. Off to the side of the American continent picture, was a box that data just kept coming through on, with the box above it reading ' _ACQUIRING TARGETS_ ,' "We are go to target."

In space, the satellites were coming online, and the guns on the Insight Helicarriers were moving as they got ready to fire on their targets. One of them was Maria Hill, the President and some of his staff, people who worked in the Pentagon, Tony Stark, and people who were still in the Triskelion. Anybody and everybody who was a threat to HYDRA, whether it was no or in the future, had been targeted.

"Target saturation reached. All targets assigned."

"Fire when ready."

"Firing in… Three…" Steve was pulling himself up again, "Two…" He was almost able to reach, "One." And with one final push, Steve slotted the chip into place. The screens with the targets on it sorted out, and the red circle of targets vanished.

"Charlie lock." Steve panted, but elsewhere in the Helicarrier, there were some very confused HYDRA agents who didn't know what had just happened.

"Where are the targets? Where are the targets?"

Agent Hill started acquiring the new targets, just as the plan had always been. "Okay, Cap, get out of there." She told him as the target number went down to 3, and the Helicarriers started moving into position to target each other, and he HHYDRA agents who could see the new targets looked at each other with scared looks on their faces.

"Fire now."

"But Steve…"

"Do it!" He shouted, trying to get up from where he'd fallen, "Do it now!"

Maria didn't say anything. She just pressed a couple of buttons on the computer screen, and seconds later the guns on the three Helicarriers started to fire at each other; vibrating everything on board as the explosions rippled around them.

Smoke and flames filled the air and the Helicarriers, but even with all the noise of everything crashing and falling apart, Steve was still able to hear the shout of frustration and pain coming from below him. He looked over the railing, and saw that the Soldier had become trapped under one of the heavy, metal beams from above. The Phantom was beside him, trying her hardest to move the beam away, but with the fall from earlier, her snapped arm, being choked unconscious, and having been injured in the explosions as well, had left her feeling very confused, and the head injury she had sustained didn't help much either.

 **~oOo~**

Alexander Pierce watched the Helicarriers fire at each other from inside his office, but no emotion passed over his face. "What a waste."

"So, you still on the fence about Rogers' chances?" Natasha asked sarcastically, thinking back on what he'd said earlier.

"Time to go, Councilwoman. This way. Come on." And Natasha reluctantly looked away from Fury, "You're going to fly me out of here."

"You know, there was a time I would've taken a bullet for you."

"You already did." Pierce followed closely behind Natasha, not letting her get far from his reach, "You will again when it's useful."

But Natasha had other ideas. She didn't want to go with Pierce, so she carefully got out one of her 'Widow Bites' and activated it on herself. The electrical current that coursed through her body was enough to bring her to the ground, but it was also enough to short circuit the device in the name badge she was wearing. Fury used the distraction to take one of the guns from a fallen agent, while Pierce was looking at his phone which had ' _REBOOTING_ ' on the screen, before it changed to ' _ARMED_.'

However, before he was able to press the button, he heard the click of the safety being removed from behind him. He quickly turned to see Fury holding the gun, and two shots were fired into the chest of HYDRA's leader; which sent him crashing back through one of the glass screens.

"Romanoff. Natasha." Fury hissed, trying to see if she was still alive, "Natasha! Come on!"

Slowly, she woke up, but she didn't move at first. "Ow. Those really do sting." She muttered, turning her head to look up at Fury.

 **~oOo~**

Outside, the Helicarriers continued to shoot at each other, and soon, one of them went crashing into another; splitting one of them in two as the heavy attack on themselves continued. And just as they crashed into the Potomac and the hangers which they'd come from, a barely alive Alexander Pierce whispered 'hail HYDRA' with his dying breath.

Inside the one remaining Helicarrier though, a badly injured Captain America jumped down into the wreckage that was falling around them – which was also trapping his best friend. He stumbled towards the two assassins, but fell over when they changed course, right towards the Triskelion where Sam and Rumlow were still fighting.

Rumlow sent Sam through the glass windows on the desks, before he jumped onto one so he could be loom over his enemy. "You're out of your depth, kid." But with his back to the wall of windows, he didn't see the _IN-01_ Helicarrier heading straight towards them, but Sam did, and he started sprinting in the opposite direction, and only when he heard the engines did Rumlow turn around, "Son of a bitch." But by the time he jumped down from the desk and started running, it was too late for him to get away, and he was taken out by the ceiling falling down around him.

Sam, however, kept on running, only just staying ahead of the destruction as the Helicarrier continued its journey through the S.H.I.E.L.D. building. "Please tell me you got that chopper in the air!" He shouted, sliding under one of the metal supports that started to fall, before he continued running.

" _Sam, where are you?_ "

"Forty-first floor! Northwest corner!"

" _We're on it! Stay where you are!_ "

"Not an option!"

Fry was flying the chopper, and Natasha was in the back. Before this point, they hadn't been able to see the Helicarrier ploughing through the Triskelion building, but now they understood why Sam hadn't been able to stay where he was. In fact, just seconds after the two spies arrived, Sam jumped out of the window, and Fury had to make a quick – almost impossible – maneuver so that he would be able to land in the chopper, and not get hacked to pieces by the rotor blades.

Natasha caught Sam's hand as he almost went through the other door in the chopper, and pulled him back in as Fury started to level the helicopter. "Forty-first floor! Forty-first!"

"It's not like they put the floor numbers on the outside of the building."

As the Helicarrier finished its detour through the building, the chopper with Sam, Natasha and Fury were in flew underneath it. "Hill! Where's Steve? You got a location on Rogers?" But as they escaped past the burning Helicarrier, they missed the red, white and blue that was Steve.

He was pulling on one side of the beam that was trapping his friend, while the Phantom did the best she could on her side, until there was just enough space for the Soldier to pull himself out. The three of them didn't do anything for a couple of seconds, before the Soldier turned towards Steve.

"You know me." Steve told him, getting to his feet the best he could, with the two assassins following his action, but it was the Soldier who made the first move, when he punched Steve in the face.

"No, I don't!" But all of them fell to the floor again when the Helicarrier shifted direction again, but all of them got back on their feet pretty quickly.

They all looked at each other, breathing heavily, but no one dared move. "Bucky. You've known me your whole life." And with the wind blowing his hair in his face, the Soldier back handed the Captain again as more explosions rippled around them, "Your name is James Buchanan Barnes." Steve shifted his gaze to the Phantoms, "And yours is Regina Elizabeth Larson."

"Shut up!" And this time, the punch hit the shield, but it still sent Steve to the ground. Only this time when he got up, he pulled off his helmet.

"I'm not gonna fight you." And he dropped his shield into the river below them, "You're my friends."

But the Soldier had other ideas. He tackled Steve to the ground and used his metal fist to punch him in the face. "You're our mission." He told him, before he continued to punch his target, "You're. Our. Mission." And just as he brought his arm up again, Steve said something that made him stop.

"Then finish it." And the Soldier stopped, a little confused as to why anybody he was fighting wouldn't try to save their own life, "Because I'm with you to the end of the line."

Something of recognition passed through the Soldiers eyes, and the same thing happened to the Phantom. They both remembered that saying, but from different places. The Soldier remembered a skinny blond boy, while the Phantom remembered being tied up in a room with green lights, and somebody screaming nearby.

The two assassins weren't able to say anything else, because at that moment, something fell from above and took out the floor where they were standing. If it wasn't for their quick reactions, the two of them would've been falling with the blond man and the rubble into the water… But they couldn't let him die. They knew him, and he knew them. Maybe he could help them in remembering who they really were. So they let go of the burning Helicarrier, and fell into the water too.

It wasn't hard to grab the man or swim with him back to shore, and when they were close enough to stand up, they dragged him by his shoulder straps onto the muddy embankment, and out of harms way. They both looked at him for a few seconds – making sure he was breathing – before they looked at each other, and then out at the destruction they had helped cause. Then the Soldier held out his hand for the Phantom to take. She cradled her broken right arm close to her body, but she stretched out her left to take the hand he was offering, and then they calmly walked away towards the trees.


	10. The Price of Evil

**Hey guys and girls. Here it is, the final chapter of the story. Thank you to everybody who has read this, and enjoyed it. I don't know when the 3rd story will be put up yet - mainly cause I haven't started writing it - but I hope to get it out around March or April next year. I wanna work on a couple of projects in the meantime though, just so I'm not leaving you all hanging for months with no new stuff.**

 **Anyway, on with the chapter. Another thank you to everyone who's reviewed, commented, favourited, followed, subscribed and all that jazz.**

 **Please R &R/comment if you want.**

 **T.C**

 **~oOo~**

 **Chapter 10**

 **The Price of Evil**

After walking away from the fighting, we had to lay low until it got dark. The emergency services were crawling around the city, looking for survivors, cleaning up all the damage, arresting those who worked for or with HYDRA, and the two of us were top of that list.. We'd been labeled as 'armed and extremely dangerous. Approach with caution,' but they weren't going to find us.

Once it turned dark, we crept out from our hiding place and went straight for the bank. HYDRA always kept cash, clothes and weapons in there, and that's exactly what we needed if we were going to blend in with everybody. We could hide out in abandoned buildings or places where they wouldn't dare report us, and we could break into stores after they closed up for the night if we needed anything else.

Anything we didn't need was left behind, and anything that could be traced back to HYDRA – or us – was left as well. We needed disappear, but we couldn't leave the city while everybody was still on high alert. They'd expect us to leave as soon as possible, so there'd be more people looking out for us, but after a week, two weeks, a month of nothing, the police and other agencies would be forced to look elsewhere, while we still resided in the city.

Just as we were about to leave – in a full change of clothes to help us blend in with the public, a rucksack on our backs for essentials, and a small duffle bag of clothes and weapons – I grabbed the portable tools so that I could do minor repairs on the Soldier's arm… Bucky's arm. That's what the man on the bridge had called him. The same man had called him that on the Helicarrier, and he'd called me Beth. We'd have to do some research on those names later, but for now, we had to leave and find somewhere to live for the next couple of weeks.

Avoiding all of the cameras, just like HYDRA had taught us, we made it to the run down, falling apart building, which had a sign on it that read ' _DANGER! KEEP OUT!_ ' The place would suit us perfectly for the time we needed, and nobody was likely to disturb us. If anything, the most likely people to come into the building would be kids or teenagers who'd been dared to go explore, or they were just looking for a thrill… Something to tell their friends, but we'd be able to scare them pretty easily. The next most likely people would be drug addicts, but they'd hardly bother us, and wouldn't be believed if they were to go to the police saying they'd seen us.

But as soon as we got settled in, Bucky took off his jacket and shirt for me to have a look at his arm. The scientists did a rush job on it after the fight on the highway so we could be ready to fight again at the Triskelion, and after falling into the water as well, I had to make sure nothing major had happened, and everything was running okay. The cold and the wet didn't really help when it came to his arm.

He didn't complain once. Not when I had to fiddle with the loose wiring, or when I had to rip the tracker out – which had stopped working when we'd dropped into the water – but he did grip my wrist tight enough to leave a bruise whine I had to change one of the wires, and it sent an electrical current running up his arm, and into the flesh join. Because of the metal hand that gripped my wrist, I also got a slight burn to join the bruise. Bucky apologized over and over again when he let go and I brought my wrist close to my chest.

It was fine though, and I told him so. Neither of us knew it was going to happen, and there was no way to predict how we'd react to it. In all honesty, I'd probably have done the same thing if it had happened to me, but he still took a look at my wrist, and then insisted that he take the first watch while I slept. Said that I needed the sleep more then he did, especially since I got injured in the fight on the Helicarrier.

And over the next week, we did research on the names that we had been called by the blond – who we saw was called Steve – and found out there was an exhibit at the local museum, the Smithsonian, which we planned to visit when there wasn't going to be that many people around. We'd broken into an internet cafe to find this out, and written all the important information about ourselves down in our notebooks.

While we were researching, we also checked the news. The red head both of us had shot at some point was on the video, talking to the men in suits in front of her. We had to turn up the sound to hear what was being said, but from the news article, we knew it had something to do with what had happened at the Triskelion. She'd put her hand on a book, recited some words, and sat down at the table by herself.

" _Why haven't we yet heard from Captain Rogers?_ "

She didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. " _I don't know what there is left for him to say. I think the wreck in the middle of the Potomac made his point fairly eloquently._ "

" _Well, he could explain how this country is expected to maintain its national security now that he, and you, have laid waste to our intelligence apparatus._ "

" _HYDRA was selling you lies, not intelligence._ "

" _Many of which you seemed to have a personal hand in telling._ "

One of the other men leaned forwards. " _Agent, you should know that there are some on this committee who feel, given your service record, both for this country and against it, that you belong in a penitentiary. Not mouthing off on Capitol Hill._ "

" _You're not going to put me in a prison. You're not going to put any of us in a prison. You know why?_ "

The men on the table before her didn't outwardly react, but they were all curious as to what she had to say. " _Do enlighten us._ "

" _Because you need us. Yes the world is a vulnerable place, and yes, we help make it that way. But we're also the ones best qualified to defend it. So, if you want to arrest me, arrest me. You'll know where to find me._ " She then stood up, and walked away from them; the flashes of the cameras following her.

That's when the video ended, but it was soon followed by another news clip of Senator Stern being arrested, a blurry image of the Soldier and the Phantom on the highway, more footage of the damage left behind from the attack on the Triskelion, and the number of confirmed deaths.

 **~oOo~**

 _In the middle of 1937, I decided that I was going to travel around Europe. I'd been learning all these languages, so I might as well put it to good use before I settled down in a job and was forced to get married and have children, but what I saw while I was out there was something that would be hard to forget. Soldiers in full uniform, the yellow stars on the Jews, swastikas on banners and posters. It was at that moment, that I made my choice about what I was going to be._

 _Over the course of my time overseas, I took photos that would help in what I knew would be coming in the next couple of years. No longer would I be taking pictures of the scenery, but the soldiers roaming around the streets with guns, the signs in shop windows about how a Jew owned it, and the people walking around. Obviously I had to be very careful, but as soon as I was done, I made my way back to England._

 _The first place I went after I'd been home and waited while my photos were developed, was the War Office. I took all the pictures incase there was anything else in them that they might need, but they needed to know about the soldiers and the War that was brewing in Europe._

 _It was then that I started out my training almost immediately. I told them I wanted to be a spy, and because of my knowledge of the languages and the countries, they allowed me to sign up. My family couldn't know what I was doing, but I couldn't give them too big of a lie incase they saw me walking around – so telling them that I was studying in France was out of the question._

 _But it was only a couple short years later that War was declared, and all of us were busy. My father wasn't as young as he was before, so he taught young pilots about fighting in the air, while my oldest brother, Edward, was one of the fighter pilots. William, the middle child, signed up to be a foot soldier. He'd never got to grips with flying a plane, but he excelled in hand-to-hand combat. And my mother went back to working as a nurse in London hospitals. With all of us out doing our part, the lying became easier, and when they died – Edward being shot down over the Channel, William giving his life to save his Unit, and my parents, Henry and Eleanor, being caught up in a bombing during the Blitz – I didn't have to lie to them._

 _However, before any of them died, I became a mentor to a new recruit. In 1940, Margaret Carter, otherwise known as Peggy, had been selected to join the SOE – Special Operations Executive. She'd worked as a Code Breaker before she'd been recommended by her brother._

 _"_ _So how long have you been working here? You look very young."_

 _"_ _I was sixteen when I started my training. Been here three years now. I know most of the European languages, and been there multiple times, so I'm a useful asset to have."_

 _If I was being honest, Peggy didn't seem like much. She seemed to prim and proper, and neat. Not a hair out of place. But if she was serious about working here, that would soon change. She needed to know how to fight, how to shoot a gun, and how to not take shit from anybody. And over the years she proved me wrong. She was a fighter, and lost most of her naivety. She saw me through the death of my family, the aftermath of my capture and torture, and had even said she'd be my Maid of Honor. I even gave her my engagement ring to look after while I went on missions._

 **~oOo~**

I woke up with a jolt. The memories had been coming back, but they were slow and disjointed, and normally just came in flashes. We wrote down everything in out notebooks, even though a lot of the ones that had come back were to do with the missions and kills we'd been forced to do while under the command of HYDRA, but this one was about my past. Before the fall. Before they'd got their hands on me. And it gave me another name. Peggy Carter.

She hadn't been too hard to find, and she resided right here in Washington. I found out that she had Dementia, and she had good days and bad days. Sometimes she would think she was still in the forties, while other times she knew what year it was, but I had to see her. In my memory, she seemed like she was a good friend of mine, and it was worth a shot. She might be able to tell us something about my past.

Getting into the hospital was easy. Avoiding the cameras was a lot harder, but with the baseball caps and the collar of Bucky's jacket and the hood of mine pulled up, getting a positive facial would be a lot harder, and it was doubtful that they'd believe Peggy if she mentioned seeing us due to her health.

Her eyes were closed and her breathing was even, but as soon as I sat down in the chair beside her bed, she was awake and alert. And then she spotted me, and then her gaze travelled to Bucky standing off to the side. It looked like she wanted to cry and leap for joy at the same time.

"I knew you'd come back. I told them that you were too stubborn to die. Only a couple years ago did you walk back into camp like nothing had happened." She thought it was only a couple weeks since our disappearance, "Steve was here only last week, and he said he wasn't going to stop looking for you. He'll be so happy."

"He knows, Peg. He saved us." She didn't need to know everything that we'd been though, and that it had been seventy years since she'd last seen us, "But we're going away for a while. We don't know how long we're going to be, but when we come back, we're going to be better."

She reached into the draw by her hospital bed, and pulled out a small, black box. "This is yours. I kept it safe for you, just like you asked me to." I opened it up, and saw the engagement ring from my dream nestled inside, "I've kept it with me every day since you went on that mission."

We didn't stay for very long after that. We knew the longer we stayed in the hospital, the more chance we had of getting caught. I did however slip the ring onto my finger, because it felt right. Like it belonged there, and that was where it was going to stay. In the future, I might put it on a necklace and wear it like that, but at this moment, this is where it was going to stay.

From the hospital, we went to the museum, and from there we were leaving the city. We'd already spent too much time here, and it was no longer safe. A lot of focus was trained on D.C., and we were slap bang in the middle of it. In order to keep safe, we had to go somewhere else, and that would be Brooklyn, where Bucky's family was buried. Then we'd make our way to England somehow.

The museum was the only thing that we needed to do in this city. I got vague flashes of memory, like I'd been here before, but things had changed. I saw pictures that said they'd been taken by Regina Larson before the War had even started, pictures and videos of the Howling Commandos, and so many other things.

Bucky had stopped in front of ' _The Fallen Lovers_ ' screen, staring intently at the smiling faces of the two people next to the text. I walked over to him, and took his flesh hand in my own; causing him to look away from the picture of the two of us from another time.

"Whatever happens, we'll stick together. We might not ever be how we were, but we're not going to be broken forever. I promise."


End file.
